To Make Your Dream Come True
by Symphonian
Summary: After the defeat of Naraku, Kagome severed all ties with the past and returned to her era. Unbeknownst to her, the past have become her present and determine her future. SessxKag. [Posted under 'Symphonia' on Single Spark]
1. To Make a Wish

**To make a wish**

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

A/N: This story is posted under the author name 'Symphonia' on A Single Spark since this name is not avaliable on here. Please R & R. Thanks.

The sun peaked over the hill with the promise of a bright new day. However the group standing at the top of the hill knew that this might probably be the last sunrise they will ever see. Naraku had issued a challenge to them, either they complete the shikon and destroy him in the process or the world would plunge into darkness and despair. The group vowed that they would rather die than see the jewel fall into the hands of the crazed hanyou. Now as they waited for the final showdown, each group member was lost in their own thoughts.

Miroku clenched and looked at the rosary that sealed the wind tunnel, a curse that Naraku had placed on his family which consumed the men one after another. How fortunate that he was able to find such good friends who supported him through everything, especially Sango whom he had developed feelings of love for. Unfortunately he might not live to proclaim to let her know about them as he glanced over at the young woman, for once he made no move to grope the female. His only hope now was that she would be able to survive this and live out her life a happy woman.

Sango stared at the rising sun with a Kilala in battle form at her side. Her hold on the Hiratsu tightens as she anticipated the arrival of Naraku's army and her brother, Kohaku. She will save her brother and avenge her family for once and for all. Kilala nuzzled her mistress as if in understanding of Sango's feelings and giving her comfort. Sango smiled at her friend who had been with her through everything and thanking Kami for bringing her and her friends together. Kagome was like the sister she never had and Sango would do anything to keep Kagome from harm. Miroku, although his wandering hands often get the better of him, Sango could not help but fall in love with him.

Inuyasha stood with his arms crossed over his chest squinting into the distance. Naraku would pay for everything he has done. He stole both Kikyou's and his life away from them and he would not get away with it. He perked his ears up to hear what Kagome was saying to Shippou. He breathed in her scent and remembered how they had first met. He had mistaken her for his former love and almost killed her. Even though he knew the two women were completely different, he sees the face of Kikyou whenever he looks at Kagome. He knew of Kagome's feelings for him, but he had promised Kikyou and he would not go back on his promise to her.

Kagome looked at the rising sun with feelings of dread. She could sense the tainted portion of the jewel that Naraku holds as it got closer. The fragment she wore around her neck was pulsing as if in answer to the oncoming evil and issuing its own challenge. The strong auras were making her nervous and her palms sweaty. She hoped that the quiver of arrows she had on her back was enough and her purification abilities were as strong as Kaede said they were. Remembering what Kaede had told her about the jewel, it confirmed her suspicions that the jewel would not give her rest until it is completely purified or tainted. The jewel feeds on evil or good of the person who holds it and stored their power. The jewel would remain with the bearer as long as it can feed off the aura of the bearer and gave the impression that the bearer was growing stronger, driving the bearer to the point of obsession like Naraku and Kikiyo. However once the bearer outlived their usefulness, the jewel would radiate its auras to attract the next bearer. Unfortunately for her, Kagome seemed to have developed an affinity with the shikon and instead of just feeding off her purity, the shikon's power melds with her miko abilities when it was with her.

Shippou sensed his adopted mother's unease and patted her cheek with one hand from his spot on her shoulder. He was worried about her. Too many times he had seen the atrocities of Naraku and understood that for Naraku to issue them an outright challenge meant he was positive about his chances at winning. Shippou looked at his mother, knowing full well that they might never see each other again, but he was not worried since his momma always told him that good people would end up in heaven and be happy for eternity. So he was sure that Kagome would sure be one of those people and nothing would make him happier than to see his mother happy.

All of a sudden, a dark cloud rolled in shrouding everything in darkness. The group tensed up for they knew that Naraku had arrived and prepared themselves for the fight of their lives. Inuyasha pulled out the tetsusaiga and it transformed into his father's fang.

"Show yourself Naraku, you bastard, and stop the damn theatrics." yelled Inuyasha. "I can smell your stench so show yourself and fight like a real man." Sango, Kilala, and Miroku shifted into battle stance and looked warily at the surrounding darkness while Kagome held up her bow and arrow with Shippou at her side.

"Inuyasha, as hot tempered as always. I had thought that you would at least learn some patience during your imprisonment which your lover had inflicted on you" Said Naraku appearing in his baboon pelt.

"Shut up you bastard and fight" gritting his teeth, Inuyasha ran forward slicing the baboon pelt. Naraku dodged the attack easily and settled back where he was.

"Patience, patience, Inuyasha, I would not derive you from showing the power of your sword to the world" laughed Naraku as he faded into the mist and numerous demons appeared instead.

Inuyasha jumped right into the middle of the wave and released his attack. Sango threw the Hikarsu killing the demons that were coming towards her and Kagome. Miroku was stuck using his staff with the poison insects hovering on the battle field. Kagome released her arrows into the thick of the crowd of demons. Kilala was at her side protecting her and keeping Shippou out of harm's way. The battle raged on and Kagome was down to her last few arrows. Suddenly Kagome jerked into the air, as Kilala let out a roar of fury, she yelped and saw that Naraku had decided to attack her while her friends were busy with their own battles.

"Well, well miko, our battle should continue where we would be undistributed considering both you and I have something that could devastate this world. Let us join forces and we shall rule together dominating both human and youkai." Naraku said into her ear as he held her against him with his claws at her throat.

"LET GO OF HER, NARAKU!" snarled Inuyasha as he leapt up towards the pair, ready to cut Naraku in two while Kilala jumped to Kagome's rescue as well.

"Fools!" with that Inuyasha and Kilala were knocked back towards the ground, Naraku turned back to Kagome and asked "What do you say miko? Give me the shards and let's just end all of this useless bloodshed." Naraku reached towards the portions around Kagome's throat.

Kagome closed her eyes and readied to release a wave of purification when she felt herself being pulled from Naraku's grasp and heard Naraku roar in fury.

"So you have taken an interest in the shikon no tama as well, Sesshoumaru, the great taiyoukai of the west." sneered Naraku.

Kagome opened her eyes and saw that she was indeed held by Sesshoumaru's tail as they floated in mid air.

"Sesshoumaru, I don't know what in the hell you want, but take you ain't getting the jewel or my sword except over my dead body!"

Sesshoumaru ignored Inuyasha and turned his attention back to the filthy hanyou in front of him. "This Sesshoumaru has no interest or need for the shikon."

Naraku was surprised that Sesshoumaru would choose to fight him, he knew that the taiyoukai had no interest in the shikon and never interfered with his plans before, then why now? "Oh, then perhaps you have decided to follow in your father's and your wretched half brother's foot steps and had your eye on the human you are now holding."

Sesshoumaru's face revealed no thoughts as he lashed out his poison whip at the hanyou. Naraku was on alert for an attack from the taiyoukai, but he had no idea that he would be this fast. 'I must get the rest of jewel and become a full youkai.' thought Naraku as his regenerate the parts where it was hit with the whip.

Sesshoumaru frowned inwardly as Naraku healed from his wounds. He decided that having to drag around Inuyasha's wench was not going to benefit him in a fight with Naraku. Besides, it would not do his reputation good to have the news that he rescued a human girl, and his idiotic half brother's wench no less, from Naraku spread around. Kagome stifled a scream as she suddenly dropped to ground and landed on her bottom near Kilala and Shippou.

Kagome looked up at the taiyoukai who had tried to kill her and Inuyasha numerous times in the past. "You don't have to be such a jerk about dropping me, no one asked you to save me."

"Be quiet wench, where is the shikon in Naraku?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome was surprised that Sesshoumaru wanted the shikon himself, but didn't he just say that he had no interest in the damn thing? If she was asked to comment on that should get the jewel now, Sesshoumaru was much more preferable than Naraku.

There was no need for Kagome to concentrate in seeking out the jewel, for the evil formed a concentrated dark pulse in Naraku's aura. "It's in his left chest, where his heart should be"

Sesshoumaru nodded, pulled out Toukiji and jumped into the thick of battle. Just as he leapt into the air, his tail reached out and pulled Shippou up with him. Kagome heard Shippou's scream "MOMMA!" and cried out "What are you doing Sesshoumaru? Why did you take my son?" as Kilala killed a youkai that was about to attack her and pulled her out of harm's way.

Sesshoumaru tightened his tail's hold around the screaming and struggling kitsune until the child could no longer move. "Take what I will give you to Kagome, you must get it to her no matter what." Shippou nodded and with that said, Sesshoumaru slaughtered the demons in his way to Naraku.

Naraku looked onto the battle field and was pleased with the results that he saw. The monk and the exterminator were beginning to tire. The monk's refusal to use the wind tunnel because of the insects and the fear that he would kill the exterminator had greatly limited his choice for eliminating his army. The miko was not faring much better either, she was running out of arrows and the neko youkai was the only one around her capable of defending her. The fighting around Inuyasha was the thickest with even the tetsusaiga did not do much in eliminating the horde of youkai Naraku controlled. Soon he'll have the complete jewel and become a full blooded youkai. Just as he was about to order more youkai to attack Kagome, a flash of white caught his eye and he found himself locked in battle with the taiyoukai.

Sesshoumaru wasted no time in making his attack on the hanyou. Luckily with his speed and poison claws and the distraction which Inuyasha provided when in an attempt to cut up Naraku, Sesshoumaru was able to puncture Naraku's chest and grabbed the jewel. The move had stunned Naraku. Taking the advantage of Naraku's inattention, Sesshoumaru thrust the jewel into Shippou's hands and tossed him into air towards Kagome.

Meanwhile Kagome and Kilala have fended off the youkai which had been attacking them and took to the air to find out where Sesshoumaru had gone with Shippou. Once in the air, Kilala saw Shippou flying towards them and moved to catch him. The kitsune opened his eyes when he scent that his mother had caught him and promptly handed her what Sesshoumaru had thrust into his hands. "Momma, Sesshoumaru said for you to have this."

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were looking at the dying form of Naraku. They had realized that once the shikon left his body, Naraku can no longer hold himself together, and when the purifying light hit all of them, majority of Naraku's body demons were purified. Kagome came to a stop just before reaching Naraku. Both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru noticed that Kagome was surrounded by miko energy and around her neck was the completed shikon no tama.

Naraku knows that his end was near, he cannot fathom how was Sesshoumaru able to rip out the shard from his body and not have him notice. When he looked at Kagome, he realized that the jewel which he had harbored so long in his body had betrayed him. However it only made him want the jewel even more, he longed to completely dominate it, to have it surrender its power to him. He let a laugh of pure malice as his soul slipped away from his dead body.

In the gathering night, a lone figure stood under the Goushinboku remembering the events of the day. Kagome reached out one hand to touch the trunk of the god tree while the other held the now completed shikon no tama hanging around her neck and let out a sigh. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of golden eyes watched her every movement up in a tree.

"We all did it. It's finally over. My dream came true" said Kagome to the tree as she looked down at the softly glowing pink orb. Naraku had been defeated in battle earlier in the day. Her friends had given all they have, even Shippou, allowing her to purify the hanyou that caused so much pain and sadness. Kagome let out another sigh as she thought of the battle this morning. It seemed like a lifetime away. The tree above her rustled its branches in the evening breeze as if agreeing with her. "I am going to miss everyone when I go home" said Kagome feeling a little sad that the quest which had taken up so much of her life and gave her so much memories will now itself become a memory, a passing phrase in her life. "Why is it so hard to say good bye?" She asked the tree. "How do you bear it as you watch the world around you change so much and the people you love disappear from your life forever?" Putting her forehead against the tree, she let a tear fall onto the roots.

Kagome looked up when she felt a presence behind her. Turning around she saw the lord of the west was looking at her and quickly wiped her cheeks using her sleeves. Kagome smiled at the taiyoukai and approached him. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru, we couldn't have done it without you." With that Kagome turned to walk back to the village where the festivities were going into high gear.

"What are you going to do now, Kagome?" Kagome stopped when the taiyoukai spoke her name. She had no idea that he knew of her name, he had always called her wench, miko or other tasteless names when they met in the countryside.

"I have to make my wish and allow the shikon to be absorbed back into my body." Kagome replied. She hoped that he would just leave it at that, because she felt that any more questions about her current condition would just likely make what she planned to do even harder.

"You have chosen to leave." It was a statement. Kagome nodded "I don't belong in this time anyways, no matter what I do, I will only be Kikyou's shadow and nothing more. I want the best for my friends, I want them to live on, get married and have children. I will never forget anything that happened here, I will cherish all my memories here, both the good and the bad. But I will miss them."

Sesshoumaru looked on in disbelief during Kagome's narrative. This human only thinks about the happiness for others. Her refusal to be second best intrigued him. Here was a human who did not let the inferior traits of her race corrupt her spirit. Was that her key to inspire the rag tag group to remind together despite of everything? She was an interesting enigma. As he turned to leave, Kagome called out to him "And, by the way Sesshoumaru, tell Rin I'm sorry I didn't say good bye." Sesshoumaru was surprised that Inuyasha's wench would remember his ward considering they have only met for a few times and each meeting was short, anyway he nodded once and walked into the darkened forest.

'Always a youkai of few words' thought Kagome as she made her way back to the village, 'I wished Inuyasha would take a leaf out of Sesshoumaru's book regarding his mouth, it would have been so much easier when trying to tell him something.' Kagome returned to Kaede's huts, where she found the old miko sitting around her fire with Shippou sleeping nearby. "Why aren't ye at the festivities, child, you do know that they are held in your honor." Asked Kaede

"I know, but it would be easier when I make my wish if I didn't go." Kagome answered "besides I want to be alone for a bit." Kaede looked at the young woman in understanding. She knew that Kagome was preparing to sever all ties from the past when she makes her wish, including the ones with Inuyasha. "Will you explain it to them for me please Kaede? I can't do it myself because I'm afraid that I might lose courage to make the wish if I see them. I hope they won't hate me for me for this." Kagome pleaded to the old miko.

"They will understand child, your friends will not hold it against you." The old miko reached over and patted the young woman's arm. "Thank you, Kaede, I will miss you too. Take care of Shippou for me please." Kagome said. "Don't worry, I will, we all will." Smiled Kaede. With that said Kagome hugged the old miko and patted Shippou on the head and made her way to the old well. Standing at the side of the well, Kagome took a deep breath, cupped the shikon no tama in her hand, made her wish and leapt into the well.

Sesshoumaru was standing on the balcony of his room when he felt a breeze, carrying the scent of the miko and her voice, "_I wish everyone would be happy and live the life that they ought to have lived_."


	2. Just Want to be with you

**Just want to be with you. **

Disclaimer: Dont' own Inuyasha.

Kagome felt she stop moving through time and opened her eyes. Realizing that she had come home to stay finally, she climbed out of the well and stepped into the well house. Kagome braced herself and opened the door. After the darkness of the feudal era and the well house, the bright sunlight of her time hurt her eyes. Kagome walked out and shut the door firmly behind her as if to signify the finality of time traveling days.

Mrs. Higurashi was preparing lunch when she heard the back door open. "Lunch will be served soon, otou-san." When she did not hear an answer, Mrs. Higurashi turned around and saw her daughter standing in the kitchen, smiling at her.

"I'm home okaa san, for good."

Kagome was not surprised that her mother did not expect her to walk through the door. After all, it was summer vacation and she usually spends all her time in the feudal era and only come home to restock no supplies. This time before she went back, she had packed enough supplies to last for a month. So it was only natural that she was not expected. "Lunch sounds really now, I'll just take a shower and be right down." and ran upstairs.

Mrs. Higurashi was not fooled by her daughter's happy façade. She saw how her daughters' eyes clouded with unshed tears when she made her statement. She knew of Kagome's feelings concerning her friends and adopted son, but especially Inuyasha. He was her daughter's unrequited love interest since the beginning of her time traveling days. For her Kagome to sever all ties with the past must be killing her. As a mother, Mrs. Higurashi could only hope that her baby would be happy.

With the sound of the shower to muffle the sound of crying, Kagome sobbed her heart out. All the tears that she held back in the feudal era came spilling out. She cried for the loss of her friends, she cried for the part of time which she was no longer a part of, but most of all, she cried for Inuyasha. She always knew Inuyasha saw Kikyo in her, both physically and spiritually. After all Kikyo was her incarnate. Why else would she have made that wish if it was not for him? It was not because of her pride to be second best that she had to leave. No, she left because she could not bear to see the hurt in his eyes when he looked at her. Staying with him will only remind Inuyasha of his failed promised to his past lover and there was no way Kagome would put someone she love through that, no matter how much she wants to be with him. Meanwhile the only comfort which she can give herself was that she could at least give him back some of the life that Inuyasha ought to have lived and be happy.

Sitting down to eat with her family at the table was luxury that she dreamed of in the feudal era. It was always either picnics or camp fire cooking. To be honest, she preferred to eat at table inside a house with air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, plus no fear of bugs dropping into the bowls and swallowing it due to the dim light. 'Yes I'll just think about the good things I have in this time', Kami knows she complained enough times about the inadequate sanitation facilities and having the need to look out for hentai monks when she bathed.

The sound of chopsticks connecting with bones broke her out of her reverie. "Souta, you will not take Kagome's oden." Souta rubbed his sore knuckle while his mother sent a glare in his way.

"But okaa-san, Kagome's not eating it and it's going to get cold." Souta observed.

Mrs. Higurashi gave her son another look and said to Kagome "Eat your oden before it gets cold." Kagome stifled a laugh and stuck out her tongue at her little brother and did what her mother told her.

Kagome's hand stroked the fur on Buyo's back and smiled on hearing the cat's contended purr and settled himself more comfortably on her comforter. The cat had refused to leave her bed after she came home. Kagome proceeded to scratch her cat's ears before drifting off to sleep. 'This cat is like Inuyasha and Shippou combined' was her last coherent thought before sleep claimed her.

The rest of the summer passed in a flash. Soon it was time for school to start again. As she was packing her school bag with her new textbooks, she found herself trying to stuff ramen into her school bag. "What are you doing Kagome?" she scolded herself, "you are going back to school, not to collect jewel shards." Kagome automatically brought her hand to her hip where the shikon no tama came from her body and looked out the window towards the well house. Immediately her throat choked up and she felt her heart constricted as if someone had tugged on it hard trying not to let it beat. Tears came into her eyes, "Oh Inuyasha, I miss you so much." she whispered. Kagome clenched her hands to keep the tears from falling. No one knew how much she longed to jump into the well just to glimpse at her friends. One look would be enough. It took all her effort not to run to the well house every morning. No one knew of the tears she shed into her pillow at night.

"Kagome?" her mother's voice called to her from the doorway, "here is your new uniform."

Kagome turned to take the sailor style uniform from her. "Thank you, okaa-san, I was just packing my books for school tomorrow." 

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter, she did not fail to notice the ramen sitting on her daughter's desk and knew that her daughter is still suffering inside. How many times since coming home, she had caught her daughter looking dejectedly out the window of her room at night. It broke her heart to see her once cheerful daughter so sadden. Mrs. Higurashi wanted to be with her daughter through out the whole quest. She longed to hold her daughter close and tell her it would be alright. But she could not do so, for Kagome made the choice herself and comforting her would just make her feel even guiltier about leaving. The only thing Mrs. Higurashi could do was to send a prayer up to Kami for the hundredth time since her daughter came home 'Please let Kagome be happy again.'


	3. A Touch of Love

**A Touch of Love**

Sango looked around the village for any sign of friends and smiled when she saw how happy everyone at the festival was. After all Naraku had been defeated and the shikon no tama is whole again, it was not surprising that they would organize a festival in their honor. Sango finally spotted Miroku by the main bonfire obviously getting "familiar" with some girls from some of the neighboring villages.

"Hoshi-sama, have you seen Kagome or Inuyasha?"

Miroku attention immediately swerved towards the sound of Sango's voice. "Excuse me, ladies, I'll be right back to talk about our future together." Miroku said giving them his most charming smile.

Sango shook her head, "Hoshi, when will you ever learn to keep away from unsuspecting women?"

Miroku gave Sango his most outraged look, "Sango, I am simply doing my duty as a man of the cloth to educate and look out for these beautiful women. You do know that I will always look out for you as well?"

Sango quickly intercepted Miroku's hand before it made contact with her rear end. "Houshi, I appreciate the offer, but with our history together, I would be better off watching out for myself. You still haven't told me if you have seen Kagome or Inuyasha."

Miroku quickly scanned the crowd, it did not him surprise that Inuyasha was not here. But for Kagome to be absent when the festival was thrown in her honor, it was most unlike her. "I think we better get Inuyasha and ask him to help us look. After all he can sniff her out which would be quicker than the two of us looking around for her."

Sango stiffened when she felt Miroku's hand made contact with her rear, she screamed "HENTAI" and delivered a resounding smack to Miroku's face.

Inuyasha went to the Goshinboku after smelling Kagome's scent lingering there. He scowled when she was not anywhere in the village or the bone eater's well. It was so like her just to wander off wherever she wants without telling anyone. . Even though they had gotten rid of Naraku there are still youkai prowling about hoping to get their hands on the shikon no tama. "Stupid wench, hasn't she learn a thing through all this?" With the night descended, the only way to find her was by her scent.

Inuyasha took a deep breath trying to find her scent, when a scent hit his nose. It was a scent he thought that he would no longer be able to smell in this life. "Kikyo….?" He whispered.

Sango and Miroku walked towards the Goshinboku knowing it was Inuyasha's and Kagome's favorite place to be alone. Miroku glanced at the exterminator walking beside him and thought. 'She is really beautiful, kind hearted and loving. She will make a good mother, but how do I get her to believe that my intentions to her are honorable?'

Sango sensed that Miroku was unusually deep in thought and wondered if he was alright. "Hoshi- sama, are you alright? Is something bothering you?"

Miroku raised his head to look at the exterminator who is now facing him and slowly raise a hand to touch her cheek. "Have I ever told you that you are a wonderful as well as beautiful woman, Sango?" with no trace of his usual charm.

Sango's eyes widen as she saw Miroku's hand come up and prepared to give him the usual slap. But she was shocked when he softly touched her cheek and felt her cheeks heat up upon hearing those words. 'He must have had too much sake at the village. Or maybe I am in a dream' Sango thought starting to panic. She grabbed the wrist of the hand that was touching her face and lowered her eyes.

Her shock must have been clearly registered on her face for Miroku drew his hand away, took her hand instead and grasped her chin with his other hand making her look up at him. "Sango, I was afraid to tell you how I feel because of the curse, but I …" At that moment, Miroku found that his voice was caught in throat and no matter how he tried he cannot get the words out. So he did the only thing he could to tell her how much she means to him, he slowly leaned down towards Sango and gently touched his lips to hers.

When his lips touched hers, Sango's eyes widen in surprise but then closed on their own. Sango opened her eyes when she felt Miroku's lips left hers. All she could do was look into his eyes and knew what the houshi was trying to tell her. Stepping back away from her, Miroku smiled at her stunned expression, "Come let's go get Inuyasha so we could find Kagome and head back." Sango nodded and followed the houshi towards the god tree.


	4. A New Beginning

**A New Beginning?**

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, don't sue

A/N: Can someone please tell me why the chapters don't seem to appear when I upload them? Please R & R.

Kagome heard her alarm clock go off and reached over to shut it off. "Five more mintues." She mumbled into the pillow.

"Meow" purred Buyo as he pawed at his mistress's face. Kagome opening her eyes and raising her head, saw Buyo cocking his head to look at her. Satisfied that his mistress was now awake, Buyo leapt off her bed, jumped onto the window sill and started licking his fur.

"The damn cat acts like Inuyasha in search of the shards" Kagome grumbled swinging her feet off the bed and made her way to bath room to brush her teeth. After dressing in her school uniform and gathering her school bag and lunch, Kagome walked out the door to school, avoiding looking at the god tree.

Upon reaching school, she looked at the bulletin board to find out which classroom was her home room. "Just my luck, I'm getting the same room for homeroom as last year. So much for passing my exams, it's going to feel like I'm stuck in time again" Kagome was so busy muttering to herself that she almost bang right into the classroom door and found herself colliding with her three best friends.

"KAGOME" they screeched "YOU'RE BACK FROM THE SEASIDE REHABILITATION CENTRE!"

Kagome nearly went deaf from their voices and did they have to let the whole school know? Kami, she should subject Inuyasha to this as well as the 'osuwari' command when he made her mad. 'No don't think about Inuyasha again or anything to do with him.' Kagome thought while being bombarded by questions from her friends about her illness and did she happen to meet any cute boys at the rehabilitation centre.

Kagome finally pulled her mind together to make sense of what her friends were asking her. What was grandpa thinking when he told her friends about going to this 'seaside rehabilitation centre' and some weird illness. She was going to have a talking to with her over imaginative grandfather. 'He could have just told them I went to visit a relative, after all what were summers for? At least this year, no one will think that I'm some walking disease center since I missed so many classes'

Kagome let out an exasperated sigh which her friends decided to interrupted as a negative to their questions. "It's alright Kagome, you still have Hojo. He kept on visiting your family shrine and listening to your grandfather's stories. I think he is very serious about you" Kagome decided right there and then that she was going to give grandpa a piece of her mind when she got home.

Kagome flopped down onto her bed and lie there not wanting to get up again. Why wouldn't they just let her have a new beginning? Kami knows that she was prepared to do so when she decided to leave forever, so was letting her start afresh too much to ask for? It was a given that she was stuck with same bunch of people for the rest of her high school days, but to get the same classroom and the same assigned seat? Not to mention the same algebra review homework as the final review from last year and Hojo, Hojo trying to ask her out in the exact same phrasing to do the exact same thing? Kami must hate her with a passion or else why would she be stuck in time like this? It was just like this on the jewel shard hunts, sense a jewel, kill the youkai that it's imbedded in, and purify it, and constantly groped by a hentai monk. At least the youkai they were fighting was different each time, although Inuyasha…. Kagome felt her throat closed and tears starting to form again. 'I have to stop this… I have to stop this pain… but how?' She cannot stop loving Inuyasha, she knew Hojo is not bad and sees her for who she is. But she cannot find it in her heart to let anyone else yet.


	5. Remembering

**Remembering**

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

Sesshoumaru looked passively up at the tree where it jealously guarded all the memories it witnessed. He placed a hand on the trunk in exactly the same way that Kagome did years ago when she was telling the tree her sorrow. Sesshoumaru smirked. This was one memory that the Goshinboku had to share with him and it was obvious that the tree was less than pleased about the situation. There were only three living beings in existence now that had known and remember Kagome as herself, and not as the miko who defeated Naraku: Shippou, the Goshinboku, and himself, Sesshoumaru, Lord of the western lands.

Over the years, Sesshoumaru had watched the world around him changed with no great thought. The wish that Kagome made had changed the lives of many people. He watched how the exterminator was reunited with her younger sibling, Kohaku whom Rin eventually mated to and had many children. He had never wondered how human emotions worked until Rin told him she wanted to mate with Kohaku. He had watched the two become fast friends with the kitsune when she would beg him to let her visit the old miko Kaede. But he would never thought that his ward would choose him over all the other human and youkai who had pay her court, not understanding why would she prefer a former puppet of Naraku. However, she had made her choice and he would abide by her decision. He did warn the young human that if Rin is hurt in anyway, he would forfeit his life.

Turning away from the Goshinboku, Sesshoumaru looked towards the hut where Inuyasha dwelled till the end of his days with Kikyo. He had been very surprised to find out that upon his mating with Kikyo, Inuyasha turned human. It was evident that it was Kagome's wish that caused this change. "I'm happy the way I am now, Sesshoumaru. I can never thank Kagome enough for what she has done to me. She has given me a second chance to live the life that I ought to live with Kikyo." Sesshoumaru recalled Inuyasha's dying words. The couple had been forced out of the village because people there did not trust Kikyo and in his usual style, Inuyasha took Kikyo with him and lived near the Goshinboku where it held many of his memories, both good and bad.

Returning to his castle, Sesshoumaru ordered Jaken that he would be in the study and not to be disturbed. Settling down into his chair, he looked at the wall where the tetsusaiga hung by itself in the place of honor. No, he would not try to wield the sword even if it was given to him freely upon Inuyasha's death by Kikyo.

"He wanted you to have it." Kikyo holding out the sword to him after the burial of Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru simply accepted the sword and went on his way. The sword which he had coveted all these years finally in his possession, yet he cannot bring himself to use it. He leaned back, closed his eyes and wondered why he was so reluctant to use the sword.

* * *

Sesshoumaru eyes' flew open and looked around the room to see what had awoken him. He rose out of his chair and went to the balcony which over looked the modern day city of Kyoto. He shook his head to clear the figments of the dream he just had. Returning to his desk, he saw that his answering machine indicated that he had several messages. He frowned at the blinking red light, why are humans always so inferior and required assistance at every turn, even with all the technology that is available to them? He tapped in his password and listened to the voice of Jaken reminding him of a meeting later that day with his board of directors. 

Sesshoumaru listened impassively as Jaken ran through the rest of his day's schedule and was about to delete the message to stop Jaken's voice when he heard, "The kitsune said that he would call you to continue the conversation." When Jaken's voice finally stopped, Sesshoumaru was about to press the delete button when Shippou's voice floated up from the machine.

"Hello Sesshoumaru, I will come to your home tonight. There is something you should know." Shippo said quietly, before hanging up.

Sesshomaru looked out the window. This would prove to be a most interesting meeting if it had the kitsune acting out of his normally bubbly character.


	6. To Meet Again

Moving On

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha

A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed. Sorry for the delay in updating. Please R & R.

Kagome rubbed her tired eyes and leaned back away from her desk to stretch. Algebra was not the nightmare she believed it to be, just very tedious and required a ton of concentration. So far this year her grades have been pretty good, and she really had to thank Hojo for that. He had been a very supportive and understanding friend, but that was all she could ever see him as. Kagome had made that point very clear to him when he tried to get her to go out with him for the hundredth time. Luckily every thing worked out and now she had a friend who was not obsessed with her or her love life.

Kagome looked out the window at the snow piled on her neighbor's roof. Soon it would spring and in no time at all, the finals would be upon her. She sighed, no more mad cramming of textbooks this year and praying to Kami above that she would just pass and not have to take remedial courses that would certainly piss off a certain hanyou who believed that the shikon no tama is more important than her future.

Kagome sighed yet again and thought about her friends. Was Sango angry with her for not attending her wedding to Miroku? She smiled at the thought of Miroku groping Sango at the ceremony in front of every body and the bride smacking him senseless. She grinned and thought, 'Let's hope that he groped her after saying "I do" and not before.' Kagome then let her thoughts drift to her adopted son, she would never get to see her baby grow up. She wondered which lucky female got to mate her precious son. Her son had such a loving disposition and would make the most wonderful husband and father. Last, but not least Inuyasha. Kagome hoped that her wish would allow him forget all the anguish and guilt that haunted him for years. Even though she knew he loved Kikyo, the tiniest shard of hope remained in Kagome's heart hoping that Inuyasha had loved her.

Mrs. Higurashi watched her daughter looking out the window deep in thought. She shook her head, she knew that look of wistful longing that was on Kagome's face. Her daughter was thinking about her friends again, namely the hanyou with whom she had fallen and remained in love with. Would Kagome ever be able to love another? Being a gentle person, she could not hate Inuyasha for being Kagome's first love. But she wondered as to why the fates had to be so cruel to have her daughter fall in love with someone whom she was never meant to be with. It would do Kagome good to keep busy and meet new friends. At least school had kept her daughter busy, but what about during the summer? Her daughter would just be miserable if she stayed at the shrine.

"Kagome?" Hearing her mother's voice, Kagome swerved around to greet her mother.

"Yes, okaa-san?" Mrs. Higurashi walked into her daughter's room and sat on her bed. "Do you have anything planned for the summer?"

Kagome tapped her finger against her chin and answered, "Depends if I pass all my courses or not, because if I don't, then I would take remedial summer classes. However if I do pass all of them, I want to get a job."

Mrs. Higurashi breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed like that she was worrying too much about her daughter. "Well because if you want, Dr. Tomoe's friend needs an assistant at her veterinarian office not too far from here."

Kagome's eyes shone, she really liked to work with animals and had done her fair share of field first aid in the Segoku Jedai. So instead of seeing cute guys this summer, she would most likely get to see some cute animals. This arrangement would work to her advantage, since she could not let any other person into her heart, finding some non-human new friends would be nice.

Kagome hummed happily as she got ready for her first day of work. She had passed every one of her exams and now she was going to get the chance to work with some adorable animals. She had already spoken to Dr. Aki over the phone and met with her at the clinic on one occasion. Kagome had liked the friendly atmosphere of the clinic was glad that she would get to assist someone as nice as Dr. Aki.

Kagome rang the bell and waited for someone to open the door for her. She smiled when she saw the vet opening the door. "Ohayo, Dr. Aki" said Kagome when Aki ushered her into the clinic.

"Good morning to you as well, Kagome. Are you ready to learn about what kinds of pets that people keep and what usually befalls them?"

Dr. Aki smiled quirking an elegant eyebrow. Kagome laughed, she loved Dr. Aki's sense of humor. On the surface, it seemed as if this vet does not take her job too seriously, but if a person watched Dr. Aki in action, they would be taken back by her expertise and determination. Dr. Aki quickly gave Kagome a run down of how the clinic works and what would be required of her position as her assistant. Dr. Aki was happy that her new assistant was a quick learner and decided it was a good choice after all to have an assistant who possessed holy powers to help her out.

As she was working, Kagome had this familiar feeling about the clinic. She kept looking around the clinic to make sure that all was well. She blamed it on nerves for the new job and decided to temporarily ignore the sensation. Dr. Aki smiled when she caught Kagome constantly looking around. This girl's miko powers are powerful indeed, powerful enough to sense auras even though she does not recognize them yet. Aki wondered how long would it be before Kagome recognizes exactly what kind of aura that she was feeling.

In the few weeks that Kagome worked at the clinic, she finally realized what Dr. Aki had meant about the different kinds of "pets" that people seemed to keep. She still cannot understand how anyone would have a tarantula, and become frantic when the spider ate something that it shouldn't and reacted to it the way you would react to something that is actually cute. After seeing Naraku, Kagome hated spiders and she loath to touch that creature when it was brought in for Dr. Aki to look over. Thankfully today no one brought in any creepy or crawly things that should be seen in a zoo and not as a pet.

For the time that Kagome had spent at the clinic, the weird feeling that she felt on her first day did not diminish, but rather intensified. She rubbed an itchy spot on her hip that has been constantly bothering her for the past week or so. As she tried to get rid of the itchy feeling, she realized that the particular spot had been bothering her for some time. She frowned, for the year since she had returned to the present, the place where the shikon no tama resided had never bothered her before. It seemed more than coincidental that it started to bother her after working at the clinic and sensing that funny aura.

Kagome was broken out of her reverie when she heard Dr. Aki come out of the examining room escorting the last patient and owner to the door. Kagome smiled at the group that was heading out, it was no wonder that the clinic has a wonderful reputation because Dr. Aki seemed to understand the animals who are in pain and seemed to know exactly what was ailing them. Dr. Aki turned around to face Kagome after locking up the door and smiled at her assistant. "Another job well done. Don't you think so, Kagome?"

Kagome smiled at the woman and said teasingly, "As if you need to ask. Your appointment book is constantly filled and looking at how happy the owners are, I think you have your answer."

Dr. Aki smiled at the bright cheerful girl whom unknowingly had contributed to the healing of the animals and calm owners at her clinic with her miko powers. Despite her happy disposition, Dr. Aki detected sadness whenever she looked into the young girl's eyes and wondered what would it take to lift the sadness.

"I may be the one who's the licensed one, but I would have to contribute part of my success to my wonderful assistant as well." Dr. Aki teased back. "I've seen you work some miracles over the animals and the owners as well."

Kagome blushed at the compliment. "It's really nothing, bandaging up a dog who was in a fight. I mean anyone can do that." muttered Kagome.

Dr. Aki walked over to the receptionist desk and looked deep into her assistant's eyes, "No, Kagome. It takes a great deal for an animal, especially a wounded one, to trust a complete stranger. These animals trust you and heal faster because they know that they are not in any danger. Besides, I give credit where credit is due, and my dear, you deserve credit for your hard work." With that, Dr. Aki released the girl from her glaze and shooed her out of the clinic.

As Kagome got into bed, she pondered at the words the vet had said and the feeling being in such close proximity with Dr. Aki evoked. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling, something about the doctor's eyes struck her as being odd when she was looking into them. 'I was probably tired out and imagining things' Kagome thought as she drifted off to sleep, 'but then why did my hip burn when she did that?'

Dr. Aki sighed as she reached her apartment and locked the door behind her. She extended her senses to ensure that the coast was cleared and dropped her concealment spell. Stripes emerged on her cheeks and her fingers elongated into claws. She grimaced at the scent of disinfectant still residing on her hands. "Thing about being youkai, your nose is extra sensitive to these kinds of thing." Dr. Aki grumbled as she prepared to take a shower that would wash away the last of the scent.

Feeling better after her shower, she sat down in front of the television but did not flip it on as she usually does. She sat there thinking about the conversation with Kagome and berated herself for dropping her concealment spell while looking into Kagome's eyes. She had felt Kagome's miko powers reaching out to her, testing her. She knew if she didn't appease that power by allowing it to sense her youkai, she would have been fried by the power trying to protect its mistress. She had vowed to herself when she hired Kagome as her assistant not to have any intimate contact with her until she is certain Kagome was ready to face the consequences and here she was violating every oath she made to herself. Dr. Aki groaned and wanted to bang her head against wall for her own stupidity. Luckily the phone rang at that moment preventing her from taking action. Aki picked up the phone and nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice on the other end.

"Hello Aki, it's been a long time."

"Shippou?" breathed Aki into the phone. "How did you find me?"

"Surprised?" Shippou laughed from on the other end. Aki had not talked to her friend for over fifty years and had changed her name many times and moved around a lot, so for Shippou to find her was completely unexpected. "I'm back in Japan and if you will kindly open the door, I think we can chat more comfortably." Aki dropped her phone, ran to open her door and found a grinning Shippou holding a cell phone in his hand standing on her doormat. "You going to invite me in or not?" asked Shippou still grinning.

Aki recovered from her shock and ushered her long time friend into her apartment locking the door behind him. She was going to have to find out what had brought her friend back to Japan. "Still the vet, huh, Aki?" The woman nodded, unlike the youkai who had wealth in the form of lands, she had to learn to make her own way into the world. With her ability to communicate with animals and her empathy, she decided to become a veterinarian where she could treat youkai and animals. Because she had to personally meet with people to treat their pets, it would not do for her to always remain in the same place. Besides she cannot afford to draw too much attention to her clinic and herself. So she had to constantly move around and change her name. Luckily for her, all she ever had to do was pretend that she was a foreigner coming to Japan to practice and pass the qualifying examination when she assumes a new identity.

"Why are you back, Shippou?" asked Aki.

Instead of answering her, Shippou looked at her and asked, "Does Kagome know what you are yet?"

Aki shook her head, but she should have realized that Shippou would have known that she had hired Kagome to be her assistant since he found out where she lived. "No, but I think she is starting to sense something unusual about my clinic and me." Aki said, ruefully, thinking back to what happened today.

Shippou cocked an eyebrow, so his surrogate mother did retain her miko powers. Shippou knew that Kagome had complained that being a powerful miko and keeper of the shikon no tama was a curse from heaven. He had heard her say once that maybe if she wasn't a miko, then she could have lived a normal life and not be hounded by youkai always trying to get a piece of her, an perverted monk, and a loud mouth hanyou who was always on her case about being weak and school.

"How is she?" Shippou asked Aki. The neko youkai sighed and told him what she saw. Shippou frowned, so everyone got the chance to live out their lives and be happy except for her. Aki was in deep in her own thoughts when she sensed Shippou moved from the sofa he was sitting in, she looked up at him inquiringly. "I have to meet Sesshoumaru tonight. I'll call you again soon." He said. Aki nodded her head and walked Shippou to the door.

Shippou gave Aki a big hug before going out the door. He turned around and grinned at the neko youkai, gave her a little wave before stepping into the elevator. Aki smiled at her old friend's antics and whispered, "It's good to have you back Shippou." a blush appearing over her graceful features.

Shippou turned once more to look up at the lighted window of Aki's apartment before starting his car.

"It's good to see you again, Kilala" Shippou said into the night and drove off to his meeting.


	7. Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told

Sesshoumaru wondered what the kitsune wanted him to know at this moment in time. After all, the last time they had spoken together was over fifty years ago. Shippou had left for Europe saying he was tired of the fighting and wanted to revisit the wilderness that no longer existed in Japan. He and the kitsune watched over the Rin's family and her in-laws until both their lines had died out during World War II. Although the kitsune did his best to hide it, Sesshoumaru knew the real reason that the kit had gone away was to be alone and forget. After seeing one generation replace another, you would have thought that the kitsune would be used to death and realize how fragile humans are. However turning to the problem at hand, what had brought the kitsune back from Europe all of a sudden and what brought about the desire to speak with him?

Sesshoumaru thought back to the days when he and Shippou both served as invisible guardians of Rin's family. It was in those days that the two forged a bond based on mutual respect. Shippou had given him the respect due to a taiyoukai such as himself, while he on the other hand, was impressed by Shippou's sense of responsibility. Sesshoumaru knew the kitsune put all his energy into his duty as guardian to the descendents of his friends after Kagome left. He even went as far as to take care of now human Inuyasha and his mate, even though he really did not care for either of them. It was Shippou who brought him the message that Inuyasha was dying and wished to see him one last time, thus allowing him to receive what he had been yearning for all of those long years, tetsusaiga. So when the kitsune informed him that he would be leaving Japan, he did not question the kit's reasons. But he did make arrangements for the kitsune so that he would at least be comfortable financially in this materialistic world. Sesshoumaru would not deny that the kitsune did make a contribution to helping to build his business empire. The bubbly personality and handsome looks of the kitsune had won him many friends over the years in the business world. Yes, the kit was much more useful than Jaken in this respect.

Sesshoumaru extended his senses and found that Shippou would be arriving any minute. Sure enough, he heard a car pull up to his spacious home and heard Jaken open the door for the kitsune. Sesshoumaru turned around and faced the door of his study just as his guest walked into the room. "I see you haven't done much in the way of decorating Sesshoumaru." Shippou said, looking around the study.

"I'm sure you didn't come back just to comment on my interior designing skills, did you?" Sesshoumaru replied. Shippou lowered himself into a chair across from Sesshoumaru and sat there observing the taiyoukai.

"You still look the same as when I left." Shippou said, knowing it would irk his mentor. Even though he had never showed it outwardly, Shippou had learned a lot from Sesshoumaru in the years after Kagome left. Sesshoumaru cocked an eyebrow at Shippou regarding his ponytail, and said, "I see you decided to retain the same look as five hundred years ago. Now tell me what is it that I needed to know." Shippou rolled his eyes. Sesshoumaru never could take a joke and was as stoic as ever. Once a businessman, always a businessman. "Time is wealth, huh, Sesshoumaru?"

"Precisely." Sesshoumaru replied, turning his glaze away from the kitsune. Shippou sighed and slumped into the chair. "Do you remember anything about my mother, Sesshoumaru?" He asked, knowing full well that Sesshoumaru remembered her. The youkai lord drew his eyebrows together upon hearing the question.

Kagome… How could anyone forget her, the miko who defeated Naraku and the guardian of the shikon no tama. She was stuff made from legends, and her disappearance after the great battle caused a even more mystical twist to her. "I don't mean the stories that floated around or the legends that became associated with her," Shippou said, "I'm talking about the actual person." Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and remembered the scene at the Goshinboku where he last saw her. The sadness etched onto her face as she spoke to the tree. The tenderness reflected in her eyes when she thanked him for his help. But why had the kit brought this topic up when he did not do so for the past five hundred years?

Shippou did not notice that his host was reliving his own memories of the human whom Shippou called mother, so he continued on. "I know you have tried looking for her, for the sake of Rin, when Kaede told you that she left. But no matter how hard you looked, you could never find any sign of her or the shikon no tama. Well, I found her, she lives today. "

Sesshoumaru snapped to attention immediately, "Impossible," he growled "No human can live this long. Not even the shikon no tama could extend its bearer's life past her physical limit."

Shippou raised his hands in defeat and asked, "Are you going to let me finish, or should I come back another time when you ready to hear what I have to say?" Sesshoumaru growled his consent and Shippou continued. "You might have noticed that Kagome didn't dress like any one else living back then." Seeing he still held Sesshoumaru's attention, he said, "that was because she wasn't from that era." S

esshoumaru's eyes narrowed at Shippou's words "Explain yourself."

Shippou rolled his eyes once again. "Geez, I was just getting to it. Just hold your horses." Sesshoumaru huffed and indicated for Shippou to go on. Seeing Sesshoumaru subdued like that caused Shippou to almost laughed out loud. "As I said before, Kagome wasn't from that particular ear. She came from the future, five hundred years to be exact." He explained.

"How did she accomplish that particular feat? I was not aware that time travel was possible." Shippou was impressed with how well Sesshoumaru handled this mind-bending news that he just delivered. So there's truth to the old saying that after living for so long, it's hard to be shocked.

"Kagome came to our time because of the shikon no tama and the bone eater's well. Mistress Centipede was able to abduct her from her time by pulling her into the well and through time trying to get the shikon no tama from her body. It was also the first time she met and freed Inuyasha from his imprisonment. She was also the reason that the shikon was shattered. In an attempt to prevent a youkai from making off with the complete jewel, Kagome's arrow accidentally hit the shikon, thus shattering it. Since she was the only one who could sense the shards, she decided to travel back and forth through time to complete the jewel. You know about Naraku and the ending to that. Kagome made her wish which allowed the jewel to be reabsorbed back into her body and returned home to this time. It's almost been a year since in the defeat of Naraku to her. Right now she is working at Kilala's clinic as her assistant. This is all I had to say Sesshoumaru-sama. I will take my leave of you now." Shippou got up and walked to the door of the study not caring what Sesshoumaru thought.

"Your reason for telling me this is?" asked Sesshoumaru. Shippou looked at the lord and shrugged, "I just thought that the two of you might be good for each other."

Sesshoumaru's eyes bleed red, his claws flexed as if preparing to rip out the throat of the youkai standing at the door before relaxing. He would not let the words of the young man upset him. "What makes you think you know what is good for this Sesshoumaru?" He challenged.

Shippou grinned deciding not to tell the taiyoukai what Rin had told him about her Sesshoumaru-sama on her visits to the village. "We'll see Sesshoumaru, we'll see." He said while he walked out of the door.

As he drove away, Shippou could not help but grin at the reaction that Sesshoumaru had when he mentioned that Kagome might be good for him. From what Rin had told him all those many years ago, Sesshoumaru was intrigued by his mother. By telling him Kagome's history, Shippou knew he would reignite that curiosity that the taiyoukai had for his mother. The lord of the western lands needed something to shake up his life and Kagome could be the key. Shippou waited five hundred years to see her again, and he'll be damned if his mother knew nothing but despair while everyone else benefited from her sacrifice. What Kilala had said about Kagome's emotional stability bothered him. Kagome deserved all the happiness the world had to offer and he vowed that he would do anything to make her happy. Shippou decided that a long talk with Kilala would be the first thing to do since the neko youkai would have constant interaction with his mother. With her support, it would make things so much easier.

Sesshoumaru continued to stare at the tetsusaiga after Shippou had left. He pondered over what the kitsune had told him. Why had everyone kept her existence a secret until now? Sesshoumaru frowned, what was the kitsune trying to pull? The look on his face showed that he knows something that he, Sesshoumaru was not aware of himself, but what is it? The girl had somehow wriggled her way into his memories and remained there for five hundred years. He had never told anyone, not even Rin, who had requested him to do so, that he went looking for her after her disappearance. It had frustrated him that he could find no trace of her and had given up the useless quest. Sesshoumaru shook his head, now that he knew that she was still alive, it would be a good time to find out why is she haunted his dreams and what else the kitsune was keeping from him.


	8. What Were You Thinking

What Were You Thinking?

Shippou decided that he would need to plan ahead in order to make his reappearance easier on Kagome and for that he would need Kilala's help. He quickly picked up his phone and dialed her number knowing that his friend would still be awake. He smiled when he heard her voice on the phone and asked, "What would you like for a late night snack?"

Kilala sighed as she placed her phone back onto its charger. She should have expected this from Shippou. Anyone would need a friend to talk to after meeting with Sesshoumaru. Shippou was no exception, despite the years they had spent together helping to protect Sango's and Rin's family. She knew Shippou severed all ties with Japan when the last member of their friends' family died during World War II. He blamed himself for failing to protect them. She had watched Shippou grow up and knew his sense of responsibility was very strong. He had prided himself on taking after Kagome in that respect and had proven that fact by protecting Inuyasha and Kikyo when it was clear that Shippou had only tolerated them for Kagome's sake.

Kilala shook her head, she too, had done her duty in helping to protect Sango's and Rin's family. After all, they were her kin in a sense, having to gone through so much together. But she chose to remain in her neko form throughout each generation, since it was so much easier to be in close proximity with the family in her kitten form. However, she took to protecting them in the shadows when both families ceased to train the children in youkai extermination and the times began to modernize. But it was not until after the war that Kilala decided to take a human form instead.

The doorbell rang effectively breaking Kilala's musings of the past. She opened the door and revealed a very laden down Shippou. It looked as if the kitsune had swept clean the prepared foods aisle at the supermarket. Shippou grinned sheepishly at his old friend and said, "I hope I have bought enough."

Kilala giggled and proceeded to relieve some of the burden from Shippou. When all the food had been unpacked from the shopping bags, it seemed like the kitsune missed the traditional and authentic Japanese food during his time abroad. Shippou had wasted no time in devouring the various types of sushi and other dishes.

When Shippou decimated the majority of the food, he leaned back with a content groan and thankfully accepted a cup of green tea that Kilala handed him. "From the way you ate, it looked like you haven't been eating for years." Kilala said, a twinkle in her eyes.

Using the tea to wash down the remains of his midnight binge, Shippou put his cup down with a sigh. "You have no idea how difficult it was to find decent Japanese food there. Not even the expensive and imported stuff taste anything like the stuff we have here and that we didn't get until of late." Shippou complained.

Kilala smiled into her cup and remembered that Shippou complained about the lack of decent western junk food fifty years ago while still in Japan.

"I can't believe it's been fifty years already." Shippou said, looking around Kilala's kitchen. "You kept to the traditional style kitchen, except now you have a better gas stove and refrigerator. I remember sitting in your kitchen fifty years ago when you first became a vet and I told you that I would be leaving."

Kilala refilled Shippou's and her cup before answering her friend. "You know we both made choices that would be the best for us at the time. Your grief would not have ceased if you remained here." Kilala said slowly. "I decided to become who I am because it was the best road I could have chosen. It was my way to survive and deal with the grief for failing to protect Sango's and Kohaku's descendents. By becoming a vet, I could heal youkai and animals' and heal the hearts of their owners at the same time. I understand how it felt to see someone you watched over get sick and died with you powerless to stop it. Now, at least I can make it a little easier for everyone. "

Shippou looked at his friend who had clasped her delicate claws around her cup. He had no idea that she would be affected that greatly either. He thought that being the companion to the great Midoriko and countless generations of youkai exterminators would prepare Kilala for facing the death of her charges. "Why didn't you tell us? Sesshoumaru and I could have helped you so there was no need for you to have to constantly move around and change your name."

Kilala shook her head, Shippou was lucky to have Sesshoumaru take him under his wing and being a taiyoukai, Shippou had wealth himself. Besides not having lands of her own, serving and protecting the youkai exterminators for generations had made Kilala become accustomed to having contact with people. Becoming a vet was the closest thing that for her to have contact with different people all the time but not the emotional burden that came with guarding one particular family.

Shippou nodded in understanding, for that was what drove him to leave Japan, to leave behind his home and friends, to leave behind the grief that had threatened to consume him. When Kagome left, he had been devastated. He had expected that his mother would leave, but to leave without saying goodbye had wounded him. As he grew up and became guardian of his friends' families, he experienced first hand the death of his charges with him powerless to stop it. Shippou realized that Kagome must have feared that if the shikon no tama remained in the Sengoku Jedai, there was the chance that she would have to watch them die one by one for her and she loved them all enough to wish for their happiness and leave. Yet, like Kilala, he had become accustomed to working with people and refused to give up the chance of making new friends. That is why he was so invaluable to Sesshoumaru. Since the youkai lord disliked humans, he needed Shippou to deal with the more mundane affairs of networking and public relations.

The two friends sat in silence enjoying the company each other had to offer. Kilala decided that Kagome must be the reason that had brought the kitsune back. "You want to meet Kagome again, don't you?" she asked quietly.

Shippou looked up at the neko, "Yeah, I missed her so much. Kilala," Shippou whispered as his voice begin to crack. "I have really missed her. When Zen and Suki died, I could not bear it any longer. I never got the chance to say good bye to them, they just left me, just like momma." Shippou started to sob the tears that he held back for fifty years.

Kilala reached over the table and gripped the kitsune's hand. It broke her heart to see him like this, to be orphaned once was hard enough, but to endure it twice? She knew that Shippou had relied on his friends' families as his emotional anchor through time until he could see Kagome again. But when the families died out unexpectedly, his emotional world came crashing down, driving him into over whelming grief.

Shippou longed for the protective and comforting arms of his mother. But learning that his mother become so dejected just added to his grief, he had patiently waited for five hundred years hoping that he could be the one who would be comforted instead of comforting. Unfortunately Shippou realized that he would have to continue to play the role of the protector until Kagome was completely healed.

Kilala sensed that Shippou had calm down and drew her hand away. "So what was it that you and Sesshoumaru talked about?" asked Kilala.

The kitsune looked up at the neko with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I told him about Kagome."

Kilala was momentarily stunned by Shippou's answer. What was the kitsune thinking of? True, Sesshoumaru did accept a few selected humans, but Kagome had never been on that list, had she? "But Shippou, he probably doesn't even remember her. I mean it had been five hundred years and they weren't the best of friends back then. Even though he did help us defeat Naraku, what purpose does it serve in telling him the truth about Kagome?" Kilala exclaimed.

Shippou just smiled and Kilala's outburst and said "Oh, Sesshoumaru remembers her." Kilala immediately looked puzzled "How do you know? No one ever said anything about her to him for the past five hundred years and he never mentioned anything about her to you either."

Shippou leaned back into the chair and said simply "Rin."

Kilala groaned, she should have known that. Those three were so close with each other that they became practically inseparable and were the instigators of many pranks over the years. "But Shippou, Kagome doesn't know that youkai still exists in this time. She does notice something is different about my clinic, but she doesn't recognize what is it yet. Letting her know about everyone else might just frighten her…" Kilala trailed off fearing to hurt Kagome even more.

Shippou sat up and leaned towards Kilala, "Don't worry, I won't push for her to remember us, but as you said she notices things, so I doubt before long she would recognize it and ultimately us. I've talked to Kaede about this before she died. Kagome's powers will slowly return as her heart and soul slowly heals. I have waited five hundred years, and for her, I can wait a little longer."

Kilala breathed a sigh of relief, thank Kami, that it was Sesshoumaru and not Inuyasha whom her friend preferred, Sesshoumaru was at least patient and instilled that trait in his protégé.

"I'll come by your office tomorrow." Shippou announced to Kilala as he was leaving.

"You are just using me as an excuse to see Kagome." Kilala teased. Shippou grinned sheepishly. "Come by around closing time and I'll introduce Kagome to you." Kilala promised. 

As she cleaned up the remaining mess from their midnight snack, Kilala hoped that Shippou knows what he's doing.


	9. Reacquainted With You

Reacquainted With You

The demon lord remained in his seat looking at the fire dancing in the fireplace after the departure of Shippou. Of all the things that he had imagined the kitsune wanted to tell him, he could not have imagined that it was Kagome whom he wished to talk about. For five hundred years, he had never heard her name fall from the kitsune's lips, not even at the request of Rin. So why had the brat decided to tell him now? Sesshoumaru could not deny that the girl did capture his interest with her courage and stubbornness. Not many who stood up to him live to tell about it, and she was one of the exceptions; Inuyasha being another one.

Sesshoumaru shifted his glance upward to the swords that hung above the fireplace. Whenever he thought about Inuyasha, he would always be drawn to look at the tetsusaiga. It seemed that his mind had tied his half brother with the sword ever since Inuyasha came into possession of it. He had gone after the sword for so long and now that the weapon was in his grasp finally, there was no chance to use it. Sesshoumaru shook his head, clearly remembering the circumstances that allowed him to acquire it. How ironic was it that he would receive the sword due to the death of Inuyasha through nature and not by his own hand. He had sworn that he would kill the half breed and take what was rightfully his from him. However, it was death that allowed him access to the sword, and it was given to him. All because of her…

Kagome… the name floated across his memory and a vision of her sprang forth in front of him. The way she had glowed with power at the downfall of Naraku, there was so much power in that mere mortal. He should have hated the human for giving Inuyasha the tetsusaiga, but he was curious as to why the sword his father, as a taiyoukai, commissioned and wield would come to life under her, a mere human. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and allowed another memory of her to float to the surface. Her tear streaked face and her scent laced with sorrow was his last memory of her. Sesshoumaru had been more curious than disgusted as to why she would cry at the thought of leaving the hanyou and the people she traveled together with. He understood that she refused to stand in anyone's way, especially concerning Inuyasha's life. Confirmed by what the old miko told him, Kagome made a wish upon the shikon no tama that allowed both his half brother and Rin's mate a second chance to live out their lives to the fullest.

Of all the scenarios that he had guessed about the circumstance of her disappearance, he never thought that she would be from another time and currently alive. That would have explained her strange manner of dress and behavior. To be honest, he really did not understand the time traveling aspect, but it was the most plausible. There was no trace of her anywhere, no matter how hard he looked.

He growled, frustrated that a mere human girl could mess with his mind like this. It was not that she was unpleasant to look at, on the contrary he found her appearance more appealing than many of the female youkai who schemed to get mate with him, despite her indecent manner of dress. Rin in a way had strove to be like the miko. More than once he had overheard the child talking to the stars asking for the miko's return and found that he, too, desired to see her.

Now five hundred years later, having learned the truth about the miko, Sesshoumaru was annoyed that the miko still occupied much of his mind. Even though the memories he had of her were brief and few, they nonetheless remained in his memory waiting to be acknowledged once again. Sesshoumaru swerved in his chair to look out the large window in his study at the moon. What ever it was the kitsune was hiding, he would find out. As for Kagome, he would have to do a little research about her first before deciding what to do with her.

Jaken came at his master's summons. Whatever it was must have something to do with the kitsune's visit. In the years after his lord's ward's family died out, Sesshoumaru never summoned him at night, preferring to have the time alone in his study. "How may this lowly Jaken serve you, my lord?" asked the toad bowing low to the ground.

"Jaken, I need to search out something for me." came the cold voice. Jaken bowed lower waiting for further instructions as how to carry out the task. "I want you to locate to seek out the animal clinic of the neko youkai, Kilala, that belonged to Rin's family." Sesshoumaru ordered.

Jaken nodded his head and asked, "What would you like me to do once I found the clinic, milord?"

Sesshoumaru thought for a moment before answering "I want you to watch the occupants for me." T

he hiki demon bowed low once more before backing out of the room. It was most unusual for Sesshoumaru to take interest in what the neko youkai was doing. He had only known that the neko youkai helped guard the exterminator's family as his lord and the kitsune guarded Rin's. He did not know what or why his lord felt that there was a need to watch the youkai's clinic, surely it was not a threat or else he would not have sent him to do it. But whatever it was not Jaken's place to question his lord's orders and he proceeded to search out the neko youkai's clinic.

Sesshoumaru smirked. He was not going to believe the kitsune completely until he verified the facts for himself first. Although how the kitsune managed to find her in this ever growing population of humans five hundred years later was not his concern. The human who infiltrated his memories and caused him to lose tetsusaiga in the first place, but allowed him to gain it back later was. Sesshoumaru would not allow the kitsune to play him like a puppet and hide things that this Sesshoumaru ought to know.

Kagome opened her eyes to the sunlight seeping through her curtains. She blinked in memory of the dream she was having. She felt that the dream was trying to tell her something but what? Turning her head, she looked at her alarm clock and saw that she had woken up before its call. That in itself was unusual for she could never wake up even with the alarm clock. She turned back to look at the dust dancing in the sun beam and tried to remember the details of the dream. Finding that she couldn't, Kagome rolled out of bed to leisurely prepare for another day at the clinic.

Having to risen before any of her family did, Kagome decided to prepare breakfast and make lunch for herself. Although her mother did the cooking a majority of the time, Mrs. Higurashi had taught Kagome to cook some of her favorite dishes. By the time that she was ready to leave for work, her family had awakened and was enjoying their breakfast. Kagome stepped out of the house and breath in the morning air. She had always love the fresh morning air, and in the Sengoku Jedai, she had gotten her fill of it every day. Letting out a contented sigh, she walked to the bus stop where the bus would take her to Dr. Aki's office. As she stepped off the bus, she sensed that something or someone was watching her. Looking around to find that nothing was amiss, she used the key that Dr. Aki gave her to let herself in. She opened the blinds to let some daylight into the room, and that's when she noticed that a young man with red hair and wearing sunglasses was standing across the street looking right at her. At that moment, a bus drove by and when she looked again, the young man was gone. Kagome couldn't help but think she had seen that young man before.

Kilala looked out into the reception area when she felt Kagome's aura pulsed. She quickly got up and strolled into the front intended on making sure Kagome was alright. She caught a glimpse of red hair and felt Shippou's aura called out to her in greeting, just as a bus went by. She groaned inwardly, that youkai never had any patience when it came to Kagome. She told him that she would reacquaint him with Kagome later the day, but no, Shippou could not wait that long and needed to come and see for himself first. Well she couldn't really blame the kitsune for wanting to see her now, five hundred years was a long time.

Kagome jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Turning around she saw Dr. Aki was looking at her with concern in her eyes. "Are you alright, Kagome? You looked dazed for a minute there."

Kagome put on a bright smile to cover up the sense of déjà vu that she felt seeing the figure across the street. "I'm alright, it's just that I was thinking whether I remembered to feed Buyo this morning." She said weakly. She did not want Dr. Aki think she was crazy and not suitable to work in the clinic.

Fortunately Dr. Aki seemed to buy her excuse and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Let's get the show on the road then, shall we?" Dr. Aki asked, smiling at her.

'Damn it, Shippou.' Kilala thought 'You just had to scare her like that.' Remembering all the tricks that he, Rin, and Kohaku used to pull scaring Sango and Miroku witless, Kilala gritted her teeth knowing she should be thankful that it wasn't anything big this time.

Time seemed to fly by at the clinic. In no time at all, Kagome was ushering the last of the patients out the door and locking it behind them. Kagome then proceeded to tidy up the reception area when she heard the doorbell ring. Kagome looked and found a young man wearing sunglasses was standing at the door. Kagome pointed to the "closed" sign hanging at the door, but the young man shook his head and mouthed something. Seeing this, Kagome went to the back to get Dr. Aki to see what she should do about it. Dr. Aki heard the doorbell rang and realized that it was probably Shippou coming to take her up on her promise. She met Kagome who was on her way in to inform her about the person at the door. "It's alright Kagome, he's a friend of mine. Please let him in while I wash my hands." and went back into the surgery to wash the scent of disinfectant off her hands.

Shippou's hands were slick with sweat as he rang the doorbell at Kilala's clinic. He was nervous about seeing Kagome once again. He knew he was going to get it from Kilala later for startling Kagome this morning, but frankly he could not help to come and catch a glimpse of her first. His knees felt like water when he saw Kagome peer through the glass at him, he waved his hands and mouthed he wanted to see Kilala to her until he saw her disappear into the back to get Kilala. He gave himself a little shake before Kagome came back and unlocked the door, inviting him in. He was glad that he had on his sunglasses to hide his eyes for he could not help but stare at the woman he called mother five hundred years ago. He could barely keep his voice from shaking as he thanked her for letting him in. She only smiled and indicated for him to take a seat in the waiting area while she went and got Kilala. Shippou thankfully sat down in the nearest chair, he could not believe how he was acting. Not even meeting with Sesshoumaru caused him to be nervous like this. But then, Sesshoumaru was not Kagome, and he could never ever imagine Sesshoumaru to be anything but a prick.

Shippou looked up when he heard footsteps coming towards him. He saw Kilala strolling towards him with Kagome trailing behind her. Taking off his sunglasses, he grinned at the neko youkai and stood up to give her a hug. "Hi Aki, since you're done I thought I'll pick you for dinner."

Kilala rolled her eyes but played along with him. "You didn't have to come all the way out here, I could have made my way to the restaurant you know." She scolded.

Shippou just grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it would be quicker for me to pick you up." He replied.

Kilala stifled a giggle and beckoned for Kagome to come forward. "Well Kagome, I want you to meet Kito, he's a good friend of mine. And Kito, this is Kagome, my assistant."

Shippou reached out to shake Kagome's hand, "It's nice to meet you, Kagome." As his hand touched hers, he felt Kagome's miko powers reach for his youki. He quickly sent a trickle of youki towards Kagome's power hoping that it would recognize him and not fry him to a crisp. Kilala breathed a sigh of relief inwardly when she felt Kagome's power recognize Shippou's youki and receded back into its mistress.

Kagome felt as if she had been shocked when her hand made contact with Shippou's hand and looked into his eyes. Instead of the tall, red haired man, she saw a small kitsune with green eyes and sporting a pony tail tied with a bow standing in front of her. As suddenly as it appeared, the image disappeared leaving Dr. Aki's friend in front of her. Kagome blinked her eyes, smiled and managed to reply "It's nice to meet you too, Kito." and withdrew her hand. She excused herself to finish her duties leaving the two youkai alone.

Kilala and Shippou exchanged a look and Kilala nodded in understanding. They would need to talk afterwards. Kilala motioned Shippou to take a seat and said "I'll just finish up inside and let Kagome go home." Shippou nodded affirmative and Kilala went to the back to help Kagome finishing tidying up.

Kagome let her mind wander as she automatically cleaned up the surgery. Why is it that the image of Shippou popped up when she shook Kito's hand? She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not heard Dr. Aki come in. "I can finish up here Kagome, you should go home. You looked tired." Dr. Aki said. Kagome gave her employer a look of gratitude and nodded. She bid Kito good night and left.

Kilala was glad that Kagome did not put up much of a fight when she told her to go home. "Did she leave yet?" Kilala asked Shippou as he made his way towards her.

"Yeah, I locked the door behind her. You almost done here? I'm starting to get hungry." replied the kitsune, pouting at the neko.

Kilala laughed at Shippou's expression and made a show of washing her hands. "Yup, now I'm done. Let's go, I'm starving too."

The two youkai quickly left the clinic and drove off in Shippou's car. Unnoticed by them, a small form scurried out quickly from the building across the road and jumped into a car that was waiting there and drove off.


	10. Old Friends

Sesshoumaru put down the report he was reading. He absolutely hated the quarterly financial reports, the damn things followed closely behind tax season on his most hated list about business in modern world. Modern humans deemed that financial reports were essential to the functioning of their business world. Obviously they do not believe that people could accumulate vast wealth legitimately. He didn't have to read them himself, but he found that if he didn't read them, there really would be nothing for him to do. Besides the golden rule never seemed to change about taking hands on in everything ensuring the smooth running of things, he had actively patrolled his lands back then, and he wasn't going to allow some mere slip ups to make him lose all that he had gained in the supposedly cutthroat financial district.

It was early evening already, the majority of his employees have gone home and he was reading the blasted reports. He would have brought them home to read, but the taiyoukai was not about to allow some useless report to clutter up his study. Sesshoumaru flexed his claws and contemplated about using his poisons to melt the pile of reports. After all, who would know? No one came up to his office without his specific instructions, and he ensured that his human employees rarely saw him. He communicated with them through the use of electronic devices. The less people who laid their eyes on him, the easier it was when he had to make the transition to his "son" to continue on the company.

Tired of facing the numbers and diagrams that basically told him that his company is still one of the wealthiest and most influential around, he directed his attention to the window that overlooked the city giving him an unobstructed view of the sunset. The sun had rise and set for the past five hundred years while the world it granted its warmth and light changed. It had been on an evening like this that he witnessed another side of the miko. Out of all the memories that he had of her, her sorrow filled eyes and tear streaked face was the most prominent. He found that he did not like to see her cry and wanted to flick away the tears with his claws. As always he frowned at the train of thought that was going through his head. Rin had rarely cried but still seeing the miko's tears evoked something unfamiliar inside him.

The soft beeping of his intercom system drew his attention away from his confusing thoughts and he gladly welcomed the change. Sesshoumaru did not like the thoughts that always go through his head regarding the miko. The taiyoukai did not like the illogical and irrational, and the miko was the epitome of both. He pressed the button and frowned when he heard Myoga's voice float up from the speaker, where was Jaken? Then he remembered that he had sent Jaken to observe the neko youkai's clinic and had not returned yet. The flea rarely left the estate since it was his duty to manage it while Jaken handled his business affairs. But the cowardly youkai took over the duties of Jaken whenever Sesshoumaru sent him off on other duties.

"Pardon me, Sesshoumaru-sama, but you have a visitor here to see you." wheezed the flea. "It's Lord Kouga."

Sesshoumaru growled at the thought of the wolf stinking up his office. But better at the office then his study at home. "Alright, send him in." replied the taiyoukai and sat back in his chair to await his visitor.

Kouga strolled confidently into Sesshoumaru's office, all the while loosening his tie. There was really no need to keep up the appearance of the respectable businessman in front of Sesshoumaru, but the rest of his office attire would have to wait until he got home. He grinned when he saw the reports piled up on Sesshoumaru's desk and the less than pleased taiyoukai sitting behind the desk. 'Kami, he needs to learn how to mix business with pleasure.' Kouga thought back to the times when Ayame, his mate, helped him out at the office.

"Surely you have better things to do than to read these reports Sesshoumaru." Said Kouga.

"Is that why you required that fully equipped bathroom in your office? To wash away other females' scent before your mate could detect it? It is well known that her temper matches her hair." came the cold reply.

Kouga cringed, "I thought only dog breath had that capacity to talk dirty. Well I guess someone does have to fill the spot of the trashy talker." Kouga fired back.

Sesshoumaru growled inwardly. What was it with everyone bringing up the dead for the past two days? First the miko, now his hanyou brother. "I presume that you did not come here just to talk about the dead, Lord Kouga." Sesshoumaru's voice dripped with ice.

The wolf wondered how the cheerful kitsune could spend so long in the ice prince's company without being frozen to death. "I heard that Shippou is back in town. I'm wondering if he would be helping you again with public relations. Frankly I'm tired of dealing with Jaken. The toad just sours any good deal." Kouga said.

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow. This was a time when Shippou's popularity in the business world did not work in his favor. The kitsune had just returned and already the news of his presence had spread to the wolf as well. "The kitsune had not made anything known to me regarding his position in the company. However if he expresses an interest in resuming that particular aspect, I would not hesitate to give him the authority. I will have Jaken inform you if that was indeed the case." Sesshoumaru said coldly wanting the damn wolf to leave as soon as possible. Not missing the message, Kouga nodded, turned and left the office.

Once outside the office, Kouga let out a breath of relief. It seemed like that Sesshoumaru had gotten even stiffer over the years. How in the world could anyone interact with him without feeling like they walked into a freezer was completely beyond him. He and Shippou had become good friends after the defeat of Naraku. He had been disappointed that Kagome chose to return to her time, but like Inuyasha he could never thank her enough for giving him his happiness. If it hadn't been for her, he would not have realized that Ayame was the one whom he loved and what he felt for Kagome was protectiveness of a family member.

Thinking about his fiery mate brought a smile to Kouga's lips. He had been ready to seek out Kagome and join the final battle against Naraku when he heard rumors about the hanyou issuing a challenge. However on his way there, Naraku had sent Kagura to take the shards from his legs. Greatly outnumbered by the youkai that Kagura had brought with her, Kouga was at the end of his strength after the shards were ripped from his legs. Just as he thought he was going to die, Ayame appeared with her wolf companions and helped him fought off Kagura and her army, but was wounded grievously in the process. It was at that moment holding the wounded princess in his arms that he realized that it was Ayame and not Kagome that he loved and desired to mate with. Ayame had begged him then to go after Kagura and the shikon shards and to help Kagome. But he had refused and could never forget the look of utter happiness on her face when he told her that it was his duty to be with her and ensure that she recovers to become his mate. Now Kouga couldn't wait to get home to see his Ayame. Her smile would certainly help thaw him out after that rather frigid talk with the ice prince.

Sesshoumaru decided that he had enough of reading over financial reports for the day, besides the wolf's scent is irritating him to no end, so all the better to head home. The taiyoukai took the elevator to the underground parking lot where he had a private garage to himself. Seeing it was well passed rush hour, driving the sports car wouldn't hurt and it would get him home quickly.

In no time at all, Sesshoumaru had reached his mansion where he found Jaken was already waiting in the foyer for him. "Take care of the car and meet me in the study when you are done." Sesshoumaru ordered and walked upstairs to wash that irritating scent from his nose.

Sesshoumaru found that Jaken was waiting in the study for him after his shower. He strolled pass the hiki youkai to his desk and sat down in it. Myoga appeared shortly with a cup of green tea and placed it within his reach. After dismissing Myoga, Sesshoumaru turned to Jaken and awaited what his servant learned.

Jaken bowed to his lord before giving his report. "I had found out the location of the clinic and observed it for an entire day. It seemed that the neko youkai is a practicing veterinarian. Her clinic is situated on the outskirts of Tokyo. A quiet neighborhood within the western lands and there are no other youkai living in the area."

"What about the people that visited the clinic?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I noticed that the neko has a young human girl who helps her out. The majority of the patients that visit the clinic are humans with their pets. The kitsune was also there, twice today as a matter of fact. The kitsune actually went inside the clinic in the afternoon and left with the neko youkai in his car." Jaken continued as he took out something and placed it on Sesshoumaru's desk. "Here are the pictures that I took of the occupants of the clinic."

Sesshoumaru reached for the photographs that Jaken had placed on his desk. He went through each one and stopped at one of the photograph of the young human girl that works for the neko. His eyes widen in realization as he recognized the girl in the photograph as the miko who had traveled with his brother and whom Rin and Shippou both regard as their mother. The girl who had haunted his dreams and memories for five hundred years was indeed alive in this era. Sesshoumaru tossed one of the photos of Kagome back to Jaken. "Find out as much as you can about this human." He ordered. Jaken caught the picture, bowed to Sesshoumaru and left the study.

Sesshoumaru looked at the photo of Kagome again. She was just as he had remembered five hundred years ago. The sadness still etched onto her features casting a shadow over her eyes. Sesshoumaru reached out a finger and gently touched her face in the picture and whispered "Kagome….."

Shippou took Kilala to a Japanese restaurant that was near her apartment. It seemed like that he could not get enough of the traditional food. Kilala nearly laughed out loud when she saw his trouble in deciding what he would like to eat best. When the two had finally ordered and eating their meal, they began to talk about Kagome.

"Well, how was it for your first meeting of her again, Shippou?" Kilala asked between bites.

Shippou couldn't swallow his food fast enough to answer her. "Did you ever fear that you might be fried by her miko powers?" Shippou asked.

Kilala laughed again at the dismay look on her friend's face. "Well I almost did when I touched her yesterday, luckily her miko powers recognized my jaki even though she didn't." Kilala replied.

Shippou breathed a sigh of relief. "Well at least I wasn't the only one. But then it was to be expected. Kagome's power is so innate in her that it recognized us even if she didn't. Actually I was wondering if she actually could feel her own power surges. I remember Kaede said that if a miko tries hard enough, she could become completely oblivious to the existence of her power, which I think it's what Kagome is doing now."

Kilala nodded in agreement. That would explain why Kagome could sense but didn't recognize the jaki residue around her clinic. However her power was too powerful just to be ignored by not recognizing it.

The two friends decided to chat some more at Kilala's apartment after dinner. After settling down in her living room with steaming cups of green tea, Shippou asked Kilala if Kagome had ever told her anything about her personal life. The neko youkai shook her head and sighed. "Shippou, you saw how she is for yourself today. Besides I am only her employer, a friend maybe, not her confidant. She's been only working with me for a few weeks. It is perfectly understandable as to why she hasn't confide in me for anything even though we are on good terms with each other."

Shippou put his face into his hands and groaned. He wanted Kagome to remember so much. That way he could help heal her heart and soul. What kind of a son would he be if he could not make his own mother happy? At that moment, he really hated Inuyasha. He hated him for reducing someone so cheerful and carefree into a being swallowed up by sadness. The hanyou had broken his mother's heart and scarred her soul. For Inuyasha and Kikyo to think that they were the unfortunate victims of Naraku, well their suffering was nothing compared to what Kagome is going through right now. His mother always sacrificed her own happiness for others and he failed her by letting the descendents of her dearest friends to die.

Kilala tapped on the table to get Shippou's attention. It's not healthy for him to dwell in negative thoughts and decided to change the topic. "Where are you staying now, Shippou? I doubt you would want to live in a hotel for long."

Shippou shook his head at Kilala's attempt to change his mood. He should have remembered that she was empathic and it was in her nature to try to comfort others. "I asked Ginta to look for a place for me in town and he actually offered me one of his high class apartments. I tried to refuse, but he insisted that I take it for now until I could find better housing of my own. He was so glad that I was back in town and seemed rather anxious as to whether or not I'll be working for Sesshoumaru again as PR. I take it that Jaken isn't very popular with the people." He snickered.

Kilala stifled a laugh behind her hands. It was not surprising that Jaken was not the most successful at coordinating business. The hiki demon seemed to have a natural flair at offending people. "Well if Ginta knows that you're back, then I don't doubt that Kouga knows as well." Kilala gasped out trying hard not to laugh. She could just imagine the toad trying to network with people and having people pass out from his stench alone.

Shippou grinned knowing what Kilala was probably thinking off. "You're probably right about Kouga. If I know Kouga as well as I did, I would have to say he went straight to Sesshoumaru and demanded to know when I will start to work."

Their worries forgotten as the two friends shared memories and exchanged news about their friends, before he left for the night, Shippou invited Kilala to come visit him at his new apartment sometime. Kilala teased him saying he only wanted someone to help him clean house, but assured the kitsune that she was more than happy about doing so. After Shippou left, Kilala sighed as she looked at the cup that Shippou was using. Five hundred years was a long time to wait, and she would put the needs of Shippou first before her own emotions. She would do everything in her power to help him achieve his goals even if it meant she had to hide her own feelings forever.


	11. Return of the Kitsune

Feeling more relaxed after her shower, Kagome sat down on her bed to dry her hair. Dr. Aki's friend, Kito, seemed really nice and not to mention he was good looking too. She giggled at the thought of telling her friends about Kito. They would most likely start to form their own conclusions about his relationship with Dr. Aki and Kagome's possibility of getting together with him. Although she had to admit, he was a pretty good looking guy. Red hair tied back into a pony tail and startling green eyes, it was obvious that he was not completely Japanese descend. But come to think of it, Dr. Aki did not look as if she was completely Japanese either. But really that was beside the point. As her hair dried, Kagome wondered as to why shaking the young man's hand would conjure up the image of her adopted son. Kagome smiled at the happy memories that they had together, but when she reached to the night where she last saw him, the pain came.

Kagome wrapped her arms about her stomach as her chest clenched from the onslaught of her emotions. Silent tears fell as guilt came flooding into her heart. There was no denying it, she had abandoned her son. After all that she had taught him about being responsible, she became the most irresponsible one. She had left him in the care of others without any explanation and never turned back. It was something a mother should never do, although she never doubted that her son would grow up and leave her eventually. But this was different, Kagome had broken a vow to someone who had depended on her and loved her, an innocent child who had his family torn apart by violence once already. The only consolation she offered herself was that her wish would have made him happy in other ways.

Kagome calmed down after awhile and washed the remains of tears from her face before heading down to dinner. In the comforting light of the kitchen and the aroma of comfort food made Kagome feel a little better. She sat down to dinner and joined in the conversation around the dinner table. After her dinner, Kagome aimlessly wandered on the shrine grounds and found herself standing under the Goshinboku. She let out a sigh and looked up at the age tree. How much memories does it hold? Would it be willing to share them with her to give her consolation that the choice she made was the right one? She laid a hand on the trunk and leaned her forehead against the bark. She closed her eyes remembering the very last time that she had done this. She turned when she sensed a presence behind her, and was surprised that it was her mother who had followed her out. She was surprised that her mother would follow her out when usually she would just allow her to solitude.

"You cannot hide forever you know." Her mother's soft voice floated into the night as she walked towards her daughter. Kagome kept her eyes trained on the ground, she would not cry, she would not cry in front of her mother. Kagome felt her mother's arms wrapped around her pulling her into her embrace. "No one ever blamed you for making the choice. You did the best that you possibly can for them. I am certain that they would all be grateful, especially Inuyasha."

Upon hearing the name of her love, Kagome burst into tears sobbing onto her mother's shoulder while Mrs. Higurashi gently stroked her hair. "I don't even know what would happen when I made that wish. I only wished to give them all something they ought to have and certainly deserved. Now that is no way that I could find out the consequences of the wish, whether it worked or not, what if it didn't?" Kagome sobbed out. "I broke a promise, okaa-san, I abandoned Shippou. I abandoned my son and I promised that I would never leave him like that. I left without even saying good bye because I was afraid I won't be able to make the wish if I did. I'm such a terrible person, but I really loved them, with all my heart and soul. I just missed them so much, if I could I would want to be by their side always." Kagome cried.

Mrs. Higurashi just continued stroking her daughter's hair while Kagome continued to sob her heart out. "Oh Kagome…." Was all she could say. She knew her daughter had a strong sense of responsibility or else she would not have risked her life and heart time after time to return to the Sengoku Jedai. Even though Kagome had sever all physical ties with a time that was never hers in the first place, the emotional ties remained and it was those that were eating her daughter alive. She realized that her daughter's way of coping with it was to push all those memories back into the recess of her mind by keeping busy. But obviously it was not working and when something triggers those memories, her emotional barrier collapsed.

When Kagome calm down enough to notice her surroundings, she realized that she was back in her room and tucked in bed. All that Kagome could remember was that her mother came out after her in the shrine grounds and taking her into her arms letting her sob her heart out. She gingerly rubbed her eyes that were sore from crying. She was always a cause of worry for everyone around her. In the past it was her friends, and now it was her family. Inuyasha was right, she was weak. A meow caught her attention. She bended over the side of the bed, picked up Buyo and held him close. The cat snuggled into her arms and fell asleep. Kagome gently stroked her cat's back as her mother had done and decided that she would follow her cat's example and head to sleep as well.

Kilala heard the door of her clinic open and close, immediately she sensed the depression in Kagome's aura. She frowned, the depression was the most intense she had ever sensed from her assistant. What had happened that caused her to be so down?

* * *

This cannot be good, Shippou will go nuts. She sighed, there was no way that she could hide this from Shippou, she had promised to keep him informed of Kagome's condition. 

Kagome was lost in her own thoughts as her hands automatically went through the daily tasks. She looked up when she heard footsteps coming from the surgery. She quickly put on a bright smile for Dr. Aki. "Good morning Dr. Aki. How was your date last night" she teased.

Kilala blushed at the question and looked at her assistant. It looked like that Kagome was adept at covering her feelings behind that sunny façade of hers. The depression that was in her aura earlier had all but completely disappear. "For your information, Kagome, it was not a date. Kito just happens to be a good friend. I had a great time, thank you for asking." Kilala replied stiffly but her eyes twinkling at her assistant. Kagome stifled back a laugh as Dr. Aki made her way back into the surgery to finish preparing for the day.

Kilala's cheeks were red with embarrassment as she made her way back into her surgery. Surely it cannot be that obvious? But then Kagome had always been more perceptive than majority of human beings when it came to feelings. Shippou had called her this morning telling her that he would be coming by again this afternoon to pick her up after going to Sesshoumaru's office. It would seem that he needs some help moving into his apartment. Kilala let out a very unladylike snort, the kitsune was shameless where Kagome was concerned. He would use every excuse available to meet with her again. But Kilala had to admit, she had never seen Shippou so happy or take so much initiative since his charges died and she wasn't about to stop him if this was what would make him put away his grief.

Shippou whistled a tune as he strolled into the lobby of Sesshoumaru's office building. He stopped at the reception desk and asked the receptionist to buzz him through to Sesshoumaru while giving her his most charming smile. Shippou chuckled inwardly, Miroku was right when it came to women, a charming manner can get them to do almost anything for you, for the receptionist couldn't contact Sesshoumaru's office fast enough. He gave her a wave and another of his dazzling smiles when she told him to go right ahead as he headed for the elevators.

When the elevator reached Sesshoumaru's floor, Shippou nearly gagged at the smell. He had forgotten how smelly Jaken was, fifty years later the hiki demon's scent still showed no improvements. But much to his surprise, it was Myoga that he found there. Shippou grinned at the youkai making sure to say hello. He always liked the cowardly youkai, even though he lacked courage, certainly there was no lacking in his loyalty to Sesshoumaru's family, but that could just probably have been the fact that Sesshoumaru's family could keep him from harm. "Myoga, what are you doing here? I thought Jaken was supposed to handle the business affairs while you handled the domestic or have you decided to be courageous finally and venture into the dangerous water of business?"

The flea demon waved aside the comment that the kitsune made about his courage and indicated that Sesshoumaru was waiting inside for him. Shippou grinned and shrugged his shoulders as he made his way to the door of Sesshoumaru's office. Much like their previous meeting at his house, Shippou found Sesshoumaru sitting behind his desk, except in a business suit rather than a haori and hakamas. The kitsune made his way to the desk and sat down right in front of his mentor waiting for him to open his mouth.

"You will refrain from charming my employees in the future, kit." Sesshoumaru's voice cut through the air. "It is unbecoming, you will not act like a womanizer in the vicinity of my office building."

Shippou fought the urge to roll his eyes at Sesshoumaru's comment. The lord of the western lands was not only an ice prince, but a complete stick in the mud. "Sesshoumaru, I doubted I would have been able to get through to Myoga if I didn't charm your receptionist. I'm pretty certain that you trained her to be wary of anyone who requests an audience with you." Shippou scoffed. "Besides, I am a PR expert and being sociable and charming is part of my job description. Jaken certainly isn't winning any points on that score." Shippou leaned back with a satisfied look on his face. He knows that Sesshoumaru needed for him to deal with the public aspect of the company. During his absence, Shippou was not completely cut off from the public relations and advertising company which he owns even though Sesshoumaru helped him handled the business affairs during his time of depression.

Sesshoumaru growled at the arrogant upstart who sat in his office calling him a conservative. He, Sesshoumaru, taiyoukai and lord of the western lands would not be dictated by a youngling whom he sheltered even though his expertise was his front line defense in the business world. "Very well, you will have the same position you held prior to your self induced exile within my company. I am also giving you back full control of your company as of today." Sesshoumaru decided. "Jaken will also be relieved of his duties in public relations and you will report directly to me."

The kitsune grinned. It was clear that something had distracted Sesshoumaru, for it was rare that he would not be threatening death upon a person who disrespected him. But when he gloated him, Shippou did not meant for Sesshoumaru to turn over all the business dealings back to him. "Sesshoumaru-sama, forgive my earlier impertinence. But as you well know I have been away from Japan for many years and it was you who helped me handle my business during my absence. I would like you to continue to do so, for my western influence might not be beneficial to the company. Also due to my long absence, I am unfamiliar with the current business trends and would require time to reacquaint myself with them. Therefore it would be most beneficial to both your company and mine's if you continue to administer the business dealings." Shippou said respectfully hoping that Sesshoumaru would not doubt the sincerity in his words. Shippou breathed a sigh of relief when Sesshoumaru nodded his head and called in Myoga to finalize the details of Shippou's return and had him inform his business associates about the change. There was no doubt that Kouga would not be the only one who would be glad that Jaken was no longer the liaison for his company.

Kouga looked at the missive that Ginta had given him, looked at Ginta who nodded, and let out a whoop of joy, hitting Ginta on the back. Finally his prayers have been answered, he would no longer be dealing with Jaken for business deals. It was high time that the toad be taught a lesson in public relations. Both Ginta and him were still grinning like idiots when Ayame walked into the office. "What are you guys so happy about?" asked Ayame as she walked up to her mate and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Kouga, continued grinning handed the missive which he was reading. Ayame quickly scanned the letter, her eyes widening in surprise. "Shippou's back? And from now on would be responsible for inter company communications." Looking at her mate and his second in command for confirmation, both wolves nodded and Ayame immediately let out a squeal and hugged Kouga. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kami, you have answered my prayers. Finally someone I can actually work with. I swear Jaken was the main reason why grandpa made me the liaison for his company. The toad really has a natural talent in offending people by his stench alone, not to mention his manner." Ayame wrinkled her nose at the mention of the toad demon.

Kouga chuckled at his mate's antics and hugged her to his side. Five hundred years of being together had only intensify their love for each other. Even though she looked a little older, Ayame now has a mature beauty to her face. Her battle toned body had soften to a womanly grace. Despite what Sesshoumaru had said about having illicit affairs with other females in his office and his mate's fiery temper. She was the only one whom he desired physically and her fiery temper just adds zest to their relationship both in the bedroom and out. Kouga could never imagine or want to think about life without Ayame by his side.

Ayame stuck her tongue at Kouga for laughing at her reaction to having Shippou back. She turned to her mate asked "Do you where is Shippou staying right now? We should give him a house warming party."

Kouga motioned for Ginta to answer her. "Well Shippou came back a few days ago, and when he called me to help him look for some digs, I offered one of mine's to him for now."

Ayame clapped her hands in delight, at least her friend would have a decent place to live while staying in Japan. Now that the question of her friend's accommodation is solved, the demoness was curious as to why the kitsune came back all of a sudden. From what she knew, Shippou couldn't leave Japan fast enough fifty years ago.

As if sensing what was on his mate's mind, Kouga took his mate's arm drawing her to a chair, this was going to take some time, while Ginta gave him a look that clearly said 'You never told her about it'. Kouga waved off the look that Ginta gave him. There were some things which Kouga kept hidden for a reason, and Kagome's time traveling activities was one of them. He had loved Kagome like a sister, although he was mated to Ayame, he knew that Kagome would not appreciate other people talking about her rather unique abilities.

"Ayame," Kouga began gently, "why don't we all grab some lunch and take the rest of the day off? There is something I would like to tell you." Ayame nodded knowing that when her mate spoke like that it was important. Kouga looked over at Ginta who nodded in agreement and the three headed out of the office and into the bustling city below.The trio arrived at Kouga's house after a leisurely lunch at Ayame's favorite restaurant. Kouga ushered his mate into the family room where they could talk comfortably for he anticipated that explaining would take a long time.

Kouga was right in the time it took to explain everything he knew about Kagome to Ayame with occasional input from Ginta. He had been worried that Ayame might be angry with him for hiding something like that from her, but his mate surprised him again with her understanding.

Out of all the scenarios that she had imagined about Kagome, she would have never thought that the time traveling was possible. Although she had never personally met Kagome during the Sengoku jedai, Ayame sensed that she was a wonderful and inspiring person to the people around her. Shippou was a prime example of her influence. Ayame had become friends with Shippou when her grandpa brought her into his company to teach her how business was ran in modern times. Shippou was a great friend because he was able to explain to her many things about business that her mate or grandpa was unable to. She felt a sense of loss when Shippou told her that he would be leaving Japan for good. After all both she and Kouga regarded the kitsune to be part of their family even though he was under Sesshoumaru. Now she realize how hard it must be to wait for someone to come back and not knowing whether or not they would know you. Ayame shook her head, that would have drove anyone to leave to preserve their sanity. Ayame decided that a talk with the kitsune was in order and whether her mate liked it or not, they would help Shippou in any way they can.


	12. Surprise!

Surprise! 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha 

A/N: Thank you to those of you who R & R. I apologize for the delay in updating. Enjoy and please R & R. 

Kilala let out a sigh at the end of the day. It had been a very busy day at the clinic, besides the scheduled appointments, there were several emergency cases that required a large amount of discretion on her part for healing. Especially when Kagome was there helping her, Kilala did not doubt for a second that Kagome's miko powers would be able to sense her jaki. It has been more than a week since Shippou first called her, and ever since the day that Kagome was reintroduced to him, he paid a daily pilgrimage to her clinic at the end of every work day to pick her up for one reason or another.

"Cheater," said a voice from behind her. Kilala did not bother turning around knowing that it was only Shippou who was paying another visit to Kagome. "Well, I would like to see you try and heal an animal that was going into shock from its injuries and to figure out exactly where the injury was without using your jaki" Kilala retorted under her breath. Kilala then felt a pair of hands massage her shoulders and Shippou's breath tickling her ear. The neko youkai let out a relieved sigh, and heard Shippou's husky voice by her ear. "Don't start to purr, nei, or else Kagome would really suspect something." Kilala's face flamed up at the proximity of the kitsune and the words that came from his mouth. Well she knew exactly from where and whom did the kitsune pick up this habit from. But hell, she had to admit, she was tired and it felt good, real good. 

Shippou stopped massaging Kilala's shoulders when he heard Kagome's footsteps coming towards the surgery and quickly took a paper towel to help Kilala wipe down the examining table. "Dr. Aki? Kito? I'm done outside. Do you need any help in here?" Kagome asked. Turning around to face her assistant, Kilala noticed that her assistant looked worn out and mentally berate herself for not noticing that fact earlier. Shippou did not miss the signs of fatigue and quickly offered to give Kagome a lift when he took Aki home. Kagome gave him a grateful look and thanked him so sincerely that Shippou blushed. He knew he was not going to live down this one from Kilala for a long time. But he was so happy to see that Kagome accepted his help. In the past, it was always him asking for help and Kagome giving it. So, now he would get to return the favor and take care of her like she did with him.

Kagome sat down in the patient waiting area to wait for Dr. Aki to finish cleaning up. She could have taken the bus as she leaned back into the sofa and closed her eyes. But she was so tired that she might just fall asleep en route and miss her stop. So, she was glad that Kito offered to give her a lift. It had only been a week since she met him, but then he came here every day after work to pick Dr. Aki up. She smiled to herself, as she noticed that her employer would blush very prettily whenever he was around and it was obvious to her that Aki and Kito have a very good understanding with each other. Their relationship reminded her Kilala and Shippou back in the day. The two seemed to understand each other so well and look out for each other in and out of battles. With the images of her friends going through her head, Kagome drifted off into sleep. 

Kilala was still laughing at Shippou as the two emerged from the surgery. Kilala stopped laughing when Shippou raised a finger to his lips and cocked his head towards the waiting area. Kilala followed his gaze and smiled at the form of her sleeping assistant. She looked so at peace and fragile when she slept that Kilala didn't have the heart to wake her. Shippou seemed to share her idea for he whispered to her "Why don't I carry her to the car while you lock up here? I don't want to wake her up." Kilala nodded and whispered back, "I wonder what's she dreaming about? She looks so serene." Shippou gently scooped Kagome into his arms and Kilala followed him out locking the door of her clinic behind them.

In the building across from the clinic, Jaken remained on watch under Sesshoumaru's orders. He had no idea why in the world did his lord wanted him to watch the clinic after finding all the information about the girl for him. It was unlike his lord to take such interest in a human, other than Rin's family. He was certain that this girl had no connection what so ever with Rin's family. For he knew that her line had died out during World War II as well as the exterminator's line and he had checked to make sure that there were no descendents of Rin left or else… Jaken shuddered at what his lord would do to him for failing to do so. At least he doesn't have to worry about the company any more than he has to for Shippou had come back to take over his former duties as public relationships. To be honest, Jaken hated that position, he rather help his lord out directly than socializing with humans and other youkai to make 'connections'. However he took up that position when the kitsune left because it would help out Sesshoumaru sama. Jaken looked out the window yet again at the clinic. The kitsune arrived not long ago and have been doing so for the past week to see the neko youkai and the miko.

Yes, he had found out that the girl lived in a shrine and came from a long line of miko and priests. He had sensed her miko powers on his observations. Although Jaken had no idea why his lord needed the information about the human, but all he was able to find out about the girl was that she was often absent from school due to illness during the past year and about her family. He failed to see anything that would spark his lord's interest. Well in a way, the girl did resemble Rin and come to think of it, this girl resembled the wench that used to be with Inuyasha, the one who held the shikon no tama. She could be a descendent or something. Jaken was brought out of his thoughts when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes. He saw the kitsune carrying the human in his arms towards his car, and placed her gently in the backseat while the neko youkai locked up the clinic and got into the car as well. Jaken's mouth dropped open, for the past week he had watched the clinic, this was the first time it happened. This was definitely something to report to Sesshoumaru as Jaken rushed to call for the driver to bring car over. 

As he drove, Shippou looked into the review mirror and smiled at the peaceful look that was on his mother's face. He was happy that, at least, in her sleep, his mother was dreaming of happy thoughts. Turning his attention back onto the road, he couldn't help but make the comparison about the difference in environment when he traveled with Kagome all those years ago. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine that the countryside would turn into something like this. Shippou's thoughts were interrupted when Kilala asked apprehensively, "Shippou, you know where Kagome lives and how to get there right?" The kitsune let out a low chuckle. "You never change do you Kilala? I'm no longer the small child that requires looking after. I have done my fair share of looking after others over the years. Have a little faith in me, will ya?" Shippou's hand left the steering and reached over to give Kilala's hand a squeeze.

Kilala blushed at the touch, but undaunted she answered, "Yes, I know you are a veteran at guardianship. What I mean is that you've been away for fifty years and you've only been back for a week. I have no doubt that you know where Kagome lives, but knowing how to get there is a completely different story." Shippou patted Kilala's hand before gripping the steering wheel again. "Don't fret so, my dear lady, I've got it covered." Kilala could only sighed and prayed that they could get Kagome home quickly where she could rest more comfortably.

Kagome was awaken by a hand shaking her shoulder and a voice calling her name. She opened her eyes and found that Dr. Aki was looking at her. She blinked to get her bearings and found that she was at the shrine. "Oh, I'm so sorry Dr. Aki. I didn't mean fall asleep back at the clinic." And for the first time noticing it was Kito who had driven her home. "Oh, I'm really sorry too, Kito. You both should have just wake me up. There was no need for you two to drive me home." Kagome's face went red with embarrassment. Kilala just shook her head and smiled "Don't worry about it Kagome." Shippou said, turning around in the driver's seat. "We both understand that sometimes work just gets really caught up with you. Besides you're not that heavy, unlike some doctors we know." his eyes twinkling in amusement as he cocked his head towards Kilala. The neko youkai who was helping Kagome out of the car sent a glare in his direction before returning her attention to the sleepy girl in front of her. "Will you be alright going up those stairs?" Kilala frowned as she saw the long flight of stairs that the groggy Kagome would have to navigate before getting to her house. Kagome nodded her head and made her way towards those stairs on relatively steady feet. "I've been going up these stairs for all my life, so I'll be okay." She assured Kilala. Realizing that voicing anymore concerns would undoubtedly overstep the boundaries of an employer concern for her employee, Kilala stepped back and let Kagome go. She glanced at Shippou who had gotten out of the car as well and shrugged her shoulders. After all, Kagome was his mother and he should realize that once Kagome made up her mind about something, she would not change it.

Kilala motioned for Shippou to get into the car and followed suit. As they drove off, Shippou couldn't help but voice his concern. "Should we double back to make sure she didn't fall down the stairs or something?" Kilala looked over to him and scolded, "She'll be fine. Don't worry about her. You know she will be. However we still need to get you settled in." Shippou just grinned ruefully, it must be a woman thing to scold. No matter how young or old, all the women Shippou met in his life always scold him one time or another. Kagome and Sango did their fair share of scolding him and his friends. Rin had done it too especially when he and Kohaku used to gang up on her during their games. Seeing the grin on Shippou's face, Kilala smiled despite being annoyed with him for acting like an overgrown mother hen. Some habits do die hard, he hasn't been a guardian for more than fifty years, and yet upon taking up the role again, he just slips right into the role again. The two stopped at a supermarket near Shippou's apartment to purchase some everyday items and lay in a stock of junk food. Shippou was surprised that Kilala insisted on getting some prepared foods when he suggested that they have dinner at a nearby restaurant before heading up to his apartment. Remembering Miroku's advice about not arguing with women when it comes to shopping, he just let Kilala have her way and paid for their purchases. 

Kilala gasped at the beautiful interior design of Shippou's apartment building. It was clearly one of the best in the city. The design was a wonderful combination of nature and modernity. "Pretty nice, huh?" Shippou said, as they rode the elevator up to his floor, "I was really impressed with it when Ginta first showed me the place. I tried to refuse, but he insisted that I stay here until everything is settled down. I haven't gotten around to really thank him yet." Shippou became preoccupied about how much Kagome would be awestruck by the design that he failed to notice that Kilala was nervously shifting and checking her watch.

When the elevator reached their floor, Shippou got out his keys and guided Kilala to his suite. "It's a bit bare at the moment. But you will find that I have enough seats for the two of us." said Shippou as he opened his door and reached to turn on his lights.

"SURPRISE!" came a shout that nearly made Shippou dropped his bags of groceries. He blinked and found the smiling faces of Kouga, Ginta, and Ayame looking at him and Kilala. He turned to the neko youkai and found that she was grinning ear to ear as Ginta strolled over and help him take some of the bags. "You knew about this, didn't you, Kilala?" Shippou accused. "That's why you insisted that we get food and eat here." Turning to the rest of the group, "Well I hope the rest of you brought something along as well. Because I don't think we will have enough to stuff both Kouga and Ginta." The group broke out laughing and Ayame came forward to give Shippou a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome back Shippou to Japan and congratulations for kicking Jaken out." Ayame beamed while her mate came up beside her and slide an arm around her waist. Kilala envied the ease which Ayame could so openly display her affection for Shippou, even though she had known the kitsune shorter than she did. Despite the long standing relationship between Shippou and her, Kilala couldn't bring herself to have any intimate contact with him.

Kilala went to the kitchen to help Ayame bring out the food that they had brought along with them while the males set up the table. Soon the group was busy chatting between bites of food, reminiscing the past and catching up on the news. Kilala smiled as Shippou, Kouga, and Ginta got into an animated discussion the business trends these days and ended up with Ayame hitting Kouga on the back and scolding him about talking while eating when he choked on a piece of sushi. Everyone pitched in to help clean up and somehow it was Kilala and Ginta who ended up washing the dishes while Shippou discussed current business dealings of their companies with Kouga and Ayame over green tea.

"You really missed him." Ginta said quietly as he dried the dishes that Kilala finished washing. "Every one missed him. He was like a light, bright and cheerful. Not to mention a brilliant person at networking and public relations. I think even Sesshoumaru missed him too" Kilala said wryly. Ginta was silent as he continued to dry the dishes. "You could have told him how you felt." Kilala's face went red at the comment. "We're good friends that's all. There's nothing between us." She stammered. "He needs more than friends you know." Ginta replied. "Ayame knows about Kagome, Kouga told her. Ayame had made Kouga and I promise to help him as much as we can. Give yourself a chance Kilala. Both you and him have been alone for far too long." Taking the last dish from her and drying it. Kilala stared at the sink. She knew Ginta was right, both Shippou and her have been alone since their days as invisible protectors were over. To be honest, she was lonely. The only close friends she got were Shippou, Ayame, Kouga, and Ginta. "I think what matters most now to Shippou is Kagome." Kilala said as she drained the water from the sink and washing her hands. "She doesn't seemed to remember any thing about the past yet, although her miko powers are intact. Shippou comes to my clinic everyday to get to know her and hope for signs that she would one day recognize him."  
Ginta looked thoughtful upon hearing Kilala's words. "We're done here, so let's go see what those three are up to." Ginta said gesturing for Kilala to go ahead of him.

Partway through their discussion, Ayame stepped aside to talk with her grandfather on her cell phone. Taking advantage of the break in the talk, Shippou got up and stepped out on to the balcony to enjoy the warm summer night. "The night's getting brighter with the lights on all those shops." Kouga said following him and leaned on the railing. "I remembered back then, the only illumination at night was either the fire or the moon." Turning his head to look at the kitsune, Kouga asked "There's no need to ask whether or not you've found Kagome yet, since you're the only one alive who knows the most about her. So how is she?" Shippou shook his head. "I told Ayame about Kagome." Kouga continued as he looked out into the night. "I don't why I kept it from Ayame. But it didn't seemed right to talk about her in the past tense when she is the future."

"She doesn't recognize us." Shippou said. "but her miko powers do." Kouga looked startled. "What do you mean by that, kit?" Shippou took a deep breath and told him the situation with Kagome. The wolf listened quietly to Shippou's narrative and couldn't help but think how much the kitsune had changed over the years. Kouga had watched the kitsune grow up and realized that his friend must have been very lonely. Shippou took his duties to protect his friends' families very seriously and never took a mate. Hell, come to think of it, Sesshoumaru didn't either. But he was the ice prince, and that's a whole completely different story. Well at least there is hope now for Shippou since Kagome reappeared in his life again and maybe the kitsune will finally get a life somehow. 

The arrival of Ayame, Ginta, and Kilala effectively changed the mood of the conversation to happier topics. The friends talked into the wee hours of the night and was forced to break up the party by the females due to the fact that they all needed to work the next morning and would certainly benefit from a good night's sleep. So the wolves bid their friends good night and left. Kilala stayed to help Shippou clean up the remnants of the party. Shippou offered to drive Kilala, but was declined by her. "But it's late, and it's too far for you to walk back." He protested. Kilala laughed, transformed into her battle form and leapt off the balcony. Turning her head and giving Shippou a grin, and flew off into the night. Shippou ran to the balcony and watch her fly off into the night. He had forgotten how graceful she was in her battle form. After all it has been a long time since he last her take on her neko form. Shippou continued to stand at his balcony looking up into night sky long after Kilala disappeared from view. 


	13. A Difficult Task

A Difficult Task

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, never did, never will

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. A big thank you to those who remained interested in my story even after so long. I hope you will like this chapter.

Shippou nervously drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove towards Kilala's clinic. It is not a difficult task. After all, Kilala had been his friend and, sometimes, his babysitter for centuries. They had spent much of their adult years helping each other out when they were not busy with their guardianship duties. They had also spent time alone just enjoying each other's company. So what is so difficult about asking Kilala to be his partner at the annual charity gala that Ayame's and Kouga's companies is again hosting this year? Shippou pursed his lips in annoyance remembering what Sesshoumaru had said to him after attending a meeting with Ayame and Kouga.

"_You will represent the company at this gathering of theirs."_ said the owner of the pair of bored golden eyes looked atthe kitsune standing in front of him. "_As you well know, I refrain from attending any public occasions to prevent excitement and Jaken is not a suitable candidate to attend on my behalf. This is an opportunity for you to make other valuable contacts, size up the competition, and reintroduce you to society. Finally, I will expect you to find a suitable partner to attend the function with."_ With that said, Sesshoumaru nodded his head in dismissal.

So now Shippou was saddled with the problem of how to persuade Kilala to attend this gala with him. He knew Kilala did not like to draw too much attention to herself. But to be honest, there was no one else that he would actually feel comfortable about bringing to a formal event like that. Of course, he could use his magic to create an illusion of a female partner, but in essence, that would be the same as attending the event by himself. Although Shippou doubted that Sesshoumaru would care about him taking the easy way out, but he would certainly disappoint his friends and if not disrespecting them outright, Kagome had taught him better than that, so asking Kilala it is.

Meanwhile, Kilala and Kagome have finished up with the last patient and were almost done cleaning up when they heard the familiar tap on the door and Shippou's smiling face was pressed against the glass. Kilala just shook her head in dismay while Kagome went to open the door for him. "Hello, do you guys need any help in cleaning up today?" asked Shippou taking off his sunglasses as he stepped into the clinic.

"No, but it would have been nice if you had brought something for us to eat." replied Kilala laughingly as she walked to greet her friend, waggling a finger at the kitsune. "I don't think you realize how demanding this practice can be." Shippou grinned and mock saluted Kilala. "Alright Aki, you're the boss here, what should I bring the next time I come?"

Kagome listened to the playful banter between her employer and her friend as she finished cleaning up the surgery. 'They make such a cute couple together' she thought as she gathered up her stuff and prepared to head back to the waiting room. "Dr. Aki? Kito? I'm leaving now, so I'll see you both later. By the way, Kito, thanks again for driving me home yesterday" Kagome said pausing by the waiting area before heading towards the door.

Upon seeing that Kagome was ready to go, Shippou immediately offered to drive Kagome home insisting that it was no trouble and that it was getting late. Kilala had to stifle her laughter at Shippou's less than subtle attempts to take care of Kagome. But knowing Kagome's independence, Kilala knew Shippou was fighting a losing battle as she headed into her office to finish tidying up only looking up when she heard Shippou's footsteps entering her office. "I had forgotten how stubborn she was." Shippou said ruefully as he flopped himself into a chair. Kilala only smiled as she replied, "Well, she's your mother and I dare say that you're pretty stubborn as well." Shippou groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "How am I going to help her remember us if I don't get to spend any time with her, Kilala?" he complained. Kilala shook her head as she reached to grab her purse from her desk drawer. "Come on, Shippou" said Kilala as she stood up from her desk, "since I didn't get a break this afternoon, I'm starving and you are taking me to dinner."

All through dinner, Kilala noticed that Shippou was very nervous but was trying his best to hide it. Kilala had taken Shippou to a noodle house in her neighborhood to enjoy some traditional noodles. The two friends talked about their work day and joked about the disappearance of Jaken. After dinner, Kilala invited Shippou to have some tea at her apartment and hoped that in a more private and familiar setting, Shippou would talk to her about what was bothering him. She was a little annoyed with her friend for forgetting the fact that she had very powerful empathic abilities and frankly, Shippou's nervousness was really getting to her.

The two friends settled down in Kilala's living room with cups of steaming green tea and Kilala decided that her long time friendship with the kitsune had earned her the right to question Shippou directly. "Shippou, in case you have forgotten, I am empathic and you are very agitated tonight and it's driving me crazy. Is there anything I can do to help you?" Shippou looked up and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Kilala, I just got a lot on my mind today." said Shippou.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Kilala.

Seeing that this was probably the best opening that he could get, Shippou decided to come straight out and ask her.

"Well, you know Ayame's and Kouga's companies host a charity gala each year and as it turns out, Sesshoumaru's company have always been one of the biggest sponsors. Anyways, Sesshoumaru thought that this gala would be a good opportunity for me to be introduced, meet people and set up contacts." said Shippou looking up at Kilala.

Kilala nodded in understanding, it was a good way to introduce Shippou to a large number of people at the same time and also spreading the message that Shippou is Sesshoumaru's representative in the business world. "You are a natural at that this type of situations, Shippou, I can't see why you are so nervous about it." remarked Kilala, raising an elegant eyebrow.

"I know, but you see Sesshoumaru had specifically ordered that I bring a partner to attend this function with and since you're my best friend I thought I'll ask you." Shippou mumbled the last few words and not looking at Kilala.

Kilala thanked Kami for her youkai hearing or else she would have had to ask Shippou to repeat the question. Her heart leapt with happiness at the fact that Shippou had asked her to attend the gala with him. She knew Shippou asked her to attend it with him out of friendship and not as a last resort. But she couldn't help thinking that after knowing him for over five hundred years, the kitsune would still be shy at asking a girl to attend a ball with him.

Unaware of the thoughts that was going through his friend's head, he had no doubts that Kilala had heard the question, but now he was berating himself for phrasing the question the way he did. 'I really blew it this time, now she's going to think that I asked her because there was no one else. Oh man, how can I explain to her that I asked her to come because I enjoy her company and there was no one else I want to attend the thing with. I guess I'm going to end up conjuring an illusion for my date, and I have probably insulted Kilala.' Shippou was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not hear Kilala calling his name, until he felt something flying towards the top of his head. Automatically, he reached up and caught it, sensing that the unidentified flying object was not going to cause him any bodily harm. He looked up and saw that Kilala had thrown a cushion at him.

"Now that I have your attention once again, Shippou," Kilala began.

"No, no, I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did, Kilala, I swear. It's just that I.." Shippou started babbling when another cushion came flying towards him again. He deftly caught it and tried to continue.

"As I was saying, Shippou," interrupted Kilala, raising her voice above Shippou's rambling, "I would love to go the gala with you."

Shippou stared blankly at her while the meaning of her words sink into his racing brain and he managed to squeak out one word "Really?"

Kilala held in a sigh that was about to escape her lips and replied, "Yes, Shippou. I would love to go to the gala with you. But…" Kilala looked up at the ceiling of her living room with a finger tapping her chin.

Shippou was so relieved and happy that Kilala had said yes that he was willing to grant any request. "But what Kilala? I promise that I will do anything within my power." said Shippou eagerly.

Kilala giggled at the part desperate, part relieved, and part apprehensive expression on Shippou's face. She had no idea that so many expressions can be convey at once on a face. "Well, you know my living is simple and so is my wardrobe. So I would need to go dress shopping if I am to be presentable at the gala."

"Then we will go shopping for it together. And don't worry about the cost, I will make Sesshoumaru pay for it. After all, he's the one who told me bring a partner." Shippou said mischievously. Then Shippou's eyes lit up "While we are at it, why don't we ask Kagome to come along with us? You know she always had good taste and it's a good way to spend time together." Remarked Shippou wistfully.

At this, Kilala burst out laughing. "Oh Shippou, you are shameless when it comes to Kagome aren't you?"

Shippou had the grace to blush and smoothed his hair while looking sheepish. "Well, I just thought that maybe if she gets more chances to see us, she will remember us faster. Besides, It's been five hundred years since I last spend time with her."

Kilala shook her head. "Alright, I'll ask her tomorrow if she is free this weekend. But I cannot promise that she will come." warned Kilala.

"As long as you ask her, old friend. I'm sure she will." Shippou said happily with a dreamy look in his eyes. Kilala just groaned and threw another cushion at Shippou.

Sesshoumaru listened to Jaken's report with his eyes closed. He had yet to discover the kitsune's intentions regarding the miko. It was apparent that the kitsune still had a strong attachment to the human whom he called mother five hundred years ago, but he still could not fathom what had made the kit inform the lord of the western lands about her existence. Even though she caused the downfall of the hanyou and the keeper of the shikon no tama, she was only a human, therefore below his notice. But somehow, the young human's face seemed to have etched itself into his memory whenever his thoughts turned to his past that included Inuyasha. He shook his head fiercely, getting the image of the miko and the memory of his brother out of his head.

He growled at the thought that the kitsune had stir up the memories that irate him for five hundred years. At least he had been able to irate the kitsune by making him bring a partner to the ball. Sesshoumaru caught his train of thought and mentally grimaced. After five hundred years, the most powerful taiyoukai had reduced to taking petty revenge on his underlings because they managed to evoke unwanted memories to surface.

"My lord?" a voice ventured timidly.

Sesshoumaru turned his attention to his retainer who was bowing his head to the floor and snapped, "What is it?"

"About the wolves' ball…" Jaken's voice trailed off.

"Shippou will be taking care of it and other matters dealing with the public from now on." Came the reply.

"Yes my lord, I will go now." mumbled Jaken backing out of Sesshoumaru's study.

Sesshoumaru watched the retreat of his retainer. Five hundred years of interaction with humans, his retainer still could not deal with either human or youkai. Now with Shippou back, Sesshoumaru hoped that his days of finding people to fix Jaken's mistakes are over.

Kilala had to admit that having Kagome along on the shopping trip was an excellent idea. Not only did Kagome had good taste, she was very knowledgeable about the latest fashions and bargains. Not that money was going to be a problem, since Sesshoumaru was paying, Shippou insisted that Kilala and Kagome shop to their hearts' content.

Going from store to store and trying on dress after dress, Kilala wondered how does human women spend hours at the mall without killing themselves. She was youkai and after several hours of trying on dress after dress, she was beginning to get tired. Kagome was still handing her dresses to try on and Shippou seemed to get his energy from Kagome's enthusiasm.

"Come on out Aki, and let us see how you look." Shippou called from the outside.

Kilala sighed and stepped out of the dressing room. "So what do you guys think?"

"We're getting it." Kagome and Shippou said unanimously.

"Now we have to get some jewelry to match." Shippou declared when they stepped out of the store.

Looking at her watch, Kagome suggested that they stop for lunch first before shopping for shoes and jewelry.

"Kito, you will have to get a suit and tie to match Aki's dress." Kagome reminded Shippou.

"Yes ma'am." Shippou mock saluted Kagome while Kilala whacked him on the back of his head.

By the end of the day, Kilala and Shippou purchased everything they needed to make an lasting impression at the ball. They celebrated the success of their day with a dinner at Kagome's favorite restaurant. Kagome blushed when Shippou insisted that she join Kilala and him for dinner. But he persuaded her by insisting that the trip would not have been a success without her contribution.

Kagome was yawning as she ascended the stairs to the shrine. It had been fun shopping with Aki and Kito. The easy comradeship that sprung up between Kito and her reminded Kagome of her time with Shippou during the Sengoku Jedai. Kagome took a deep breath to stop herself from succumbing to her guilty feelings. Firmly Kagome turn her thoughts to the day's events instead. 'Aki and Kito would make such a dashing couple' Kagome thought as she drifted off to sleep happily.

Shippou helped Kilala carry her bags up to her apartment. Upon entering the apartment, Shippou made a beeline for the couch and flopped himself on it.

"I am so tired. I never knew shopping can be so tiring." Shippou groaned.

"You are a fine one to talk." scolded Kilala going to the couch with two cups in her hands, "I had to get dress and redress so many times that I lost count. Not to mention the number of shoes I had to try on and I can barely walk in them." She grimaced handing him one of the cups and settling in an armchair.

Shippou laughed and said, "According to Kagome, you're only half done. On the day of ball, you'll have to get your hair styled, your make up applied and then into the whole regalia. Oh, and here's the rub, after all that, there's still the ball to attend."

Kilala picked up a cushion and threw it at her friend. "Crack anymore jokes Shippou. I will leave you to go to the ball yourself." She threatened.

Deftly catching the cushion, Shippou raised his hands in surrender still smiling.

"That reminds me, Shippou. When is the ball going to be held?" Kilala asked.

Hearing the question, Shippou sat up, looked at Kilala and blinked. "I didn't tell you?"

Kilala shook her head. "I believe in the excitement of inviting Kagome to go shopping with me, the date of the event slipped your mind."

Shippou gave Kilala a sheepish look and apologized, "I'm sorry, Kilala. It's just that I thought everyone knows about it considering Kouga's and Ayame's companies are well known and it's an annual event. It's Saturday of next week and it starts at 7 p.m. So I will pick you up around 6."

Glancing at his watch, Shippou swore and sprang off the couch. "I can't believe it's so late already. I'm hanging out with Kouga them at his house tomorrow and Ayame asked me to ask you to come. So I'll pick you up around 8 tomorrow and we'll have breakfast then head to their house?" Shippou asked raising an eyebrow in enquiry.

"If that is the case then I suggest you head home and get some sleep." Kilala said giving Shippou a push towards the door. Shippou gave Kilala a wave as he stepped into the elevator. Seeing that Shippou had left, Kilala closed her front door and leaned against it sighing. Spending the day with Kagome and Shippou reminded Kilala of the days when Sango was her constant companion. Although back then every day was filled with dangers, she was with people whom she loved and who loved her.

Kilala went into the living room to pick up the cups and took them to the kitchen to be washed. How things have changed over the years, back then she could have never imagined Kagome came from a world like this one, where demons lived in fear of humans. Well, at least some of them do. Kilala went to her dresser where the day's purchases sat and put them neatly away. As she got ready to sleep, Kilala made a mental note to ask Kagome to come by next Saturday and help her get ready for the ball. Kilala was not going to admit to anyone that she had absolutely no idea how to put on make up.

Kilala was up and waiting for Shippou in lobby when he came to pick her up the next morning. Jumping out of the car, the kitsune greeted his friend and dragged her to the car. They stopped by a fast food restaurant on the way to Kouga's house.

"Have you ever been to Kouga's house Kilala?" asked Shippou with his mouth full of chocolate.

"No, and didn't you just eat breakfast?" Kilala asked.

Shippou swallowed the chocolate and replied, "If I know Kouga, and I probably do. He will say how boring it was to spar with the same partners for the past fifty years and drag me off to fight with him. Ginta will probably promptly challenge me as well. So I will need the extra energy." Kilala could only shake her head and groan.

In no time at all, they reached Kouga's house and saw that they were not the first ones there. Just as Shippou had predicted, Kouga and Ginta promptly dragged Shippou off to the dojo, leaving Ayame and Kilala at the door.

"Those two," Ayame sighed, "you think they would have grown up after all these years. Come on in Kilala, I'll show you around while they beat each other up."

Kilala took in the beautiful surroundings of Ayame's house and grounds. The wolves have done their best to preserve a little bit of wilderness in the modern world. The two women were talking about the upcoming ball when they heard a resounding crash coming from the house.

"KOUGA, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Ayame screamed as she and Kilala raced into the house.


	14. A Walk Down Memory Lane

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Hope you will enjoy this chapter and please R& R. Thanks.

Kilala followed Ayame as she rushed into the house. She skidded to a stop right behind Ayame and looked over the red head's shoulder into what were formerly the dojo, sauna, change rooms, and billiards room. The walls have been knocked down and the furniture smashed to splinters. The billiards table was in several pieces and these various pieces were located in different locations, in short, the men have demolished one side of the house.

"I take it that Kouga didn't like the décor." Kilala mused.

"What on earth have you guys been doing?" Ayame asked advancing into what was formerly the dojo towards the form of her mate.

Ginta and Shippou were helping Kouga sit up against the wall while Shippou was apologizing profusely. Kouga waved aside Shippou's apologies and grinned sheepishly at the approaching form of his very angry wife.

"Uh… sparring," Kouga answered dazedly and promptly fainted. Ayame was about to deliver a well deserved kick to the limp form of her husband when she felt someone grab her elbow. Spinning around, she saw that it was Kilala who was trying to hold in a laugh and shaking her head.

"Ayame, at least let me have a look at him before you finish him off." Kilala pleaded.

"Oh, alright, be sure that he has something left for me to finish off." Ayame fumed. Turning to Ginta and Shippou, "you two might as well tell me what happened." She snapped. "Since," sparing a glance at Kilala who had managed to revive Kouga, "he's in no condition to tell me."

"It's my fault really, "Shippou said stepping forward. "Kouga and I have been out of practice for so long that we thought we both might benefit from some actual fighting…" Shippou trailed off.

"You mean it was Kouga's idea." Ayame said throwing a nasty look at her still dazed husband and Ginta who had gone to see if Kilala needed any help before turning her attention back to Shippou. "So what went wrong?"

Shippou gulped, "I guess we got a little carried away about half way through. We were out of practice." Shippou grinned sheepishly.

"That was something you picked up recently, wasn't it Shippou?" Kouga asked coming up behind Ayame holding an icepack to his head with Ginta and Kilala supporting him. "It wasn't in your repertoire the last time I sparred with you. You've got to show me again." completely disregarding the deadly looks that Ayame was now shooting at him.

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It.!" Ayame growled.

As if finally noticing how angry his mate was and the extent of the damage done to the house. Kouga raised his free hand trying to pacify Ayame. "It was an accident, Ayame. At least we didn't completely bring down the house." turning to Shippou and Ginta in turn for support, Kouga continued brightly. "Besides, dearest, didn't you say you hate the billiards room? Now you can completely remodel both the billiards room and the dojo."

Ayame rubbed her temples and let out a frustrated growl. Shippou, sensing that the worst was over, remarked to Ginta that if he was going to be killed by Ayame, at least let him clean up first, so he won't make the mess even worse. Upon hearing this, Ayame let out an exasperated sigh and ushered both Shippou and Kouga where they could clean themselves up leaving Ginta to keep Kilala company.

Ginta gestured for Kilala to precede him out of the demolished room. Once out of the room, Ginta took Kilala's arm and led her to the kitchen where they could sit down to wait for their friends.

"Don't worry about it, Kilala." Ginta said chuckling, as if guessing what was on Kilala's mind and handing her a cup of tea. "It's not the first time that Kouga did this, nor will it be the last."

"Really, what on earth were you three doing in there? Those two must have gone full out to utterly decimate the dojo and the billiards room." asked Kilala bringing the cup to her lips.

Ginta just waved the question aside and simply said, "You really don't want to know about it or else you would have to killed Shippou." giving her a sly smile and gave her a little salute with his cup before taking a drink.

'Men!' thought Kilala as she gave up trying to find out what had happened knowing that she would not get the story out of those three.

"What were you guys talking about?" Shippou's voice came from behind them, the two turned around to see that Shippou had on a change of clean clothes and was smelling strongly of soap. "By the way, where's Hakkaku? I haven't seen him since I've gotten back." He asked as he settled into a chair beside Kilala, rubbing his hair vigorously with a towel to dry it.

"He's busy with the finalizing the details of the gala, but he'll be here soon." Ginta answered as he came back to the table with another cup of tea for Shippou.

Shippou received the cup from Ginta with a nod of thanks. "I don't know about you guys, but after all that sparring I'm starving" Shippou remarked looking wistfully at the cup of tea as if hoping that food would magically appear in its place.

His expression caused Kilala and Ginta to laugh out loud. "Well, I guess I'll see what Kouga has in his refrigerator. I'm sure that Ayame has something edible in there, because Kouga is always hungry." said Ginta winking at his friends, as the three of them got up from the table to raid the refrigerator.

Kagome stepped outside the kitchen door to breathe in the fresh morning air and to take in the warmth of the early morning sunshine. She had always loved the outdoors, especially during early morning when the sun was just starting to warm the earth. She wondered what Souta was up to in the shrine grounds, last night before going to bed, he had asked for her help in a summer project. As if her thoughts summoned her brother, Souta came running to the kitchen door, smiling when he caught sight of her.

"Ohayo, Kagome," panted Souta bending over to catch his breath. "I was afraid you'll go to the shrine grounds yourself."

Kagome shook her head in dismay and grinned at her brother. "You said to meet you here Souta, why would I go anywhere else. Now what is it that you need my help for?"

Souta smiled, grabbed her hand, and started dragging her towards the direction that he had just come from, "Come and see. I bet you could never guess what it is."

Looking down tolerantly at Souta's antics, Kagome allowed her sibling to lead her onto the shrine grounds. When the two of them got here, Kagome felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes when she saw the scene before her and looked at her brother for explanation.

Souta had set up various targets on the shrine grounds for archery practice that was similar to the practice grounds in the Sengoku Jedai.

"I thought I'll sign up for the archery club at school in September." Souta mumbled head bowed as he shuffled on his feet. "So I want to get a little practice before then and since you learned how to shoot there, so I thought I'll ask you to teach me, Kagome."

Looking up at his sister, Souta added, "I thought I would make it more comfortable for you if you had a similar environment where you learned. I also thought…."

"What is it Souta? You can say it." whispered Kagome.

"I know how much you missed it there and since you couldn't go back, so I thought to bring a little bit of the past to you..." Souta trailed off.

Kagome turned and caught Souta in a tight hug as her tears threatened to spill out. It had not occurred to her that her longing for the past was that obvious to her family. "Oh Souta." Kagome said simply holding onto her brother.

Souta wiggled out of her grasp and ran to the side and came back with a set of bow and arrows in his arms. "Look Kagome, I even got Grandpa to help me find a bow that was similar to the ones they used back then."

Kagome took the bow from Souta. Closing her eyes, she held the weapon in her hands feeling the wood beneath her fingers and remembered the times which she had used the weapon, a weapon which had brought her and Inuyasha together. Opening her eyes, Kagome smiled at Souta and reached out to ruffle his hair. "I'm not a great shoot at this either, but I'll teach you what Kaede had taught me and with practice, you will definitely be a better archer than I am." and proceeded to show Souta how to hold a bow and arrow.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled fondly as she stood at the edge of the grounds watching Kagome correcting Souta's stance and teaching him how to get a good aim. "So I guess Souta's idea worked." Grandfather Higurashi said as he came to stand beside his daughter with a broom in his hand.

His daughter smiled and answered, "Yes, I believe it did."

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and inwardly frowned. He looked around his room trying to identify what had awoken him. Seeing a ray of sunlight shining into the room and the curtains drifted in the gentle breeze reminded the youkai lord that it was the weekend and he had nothing to do. Realizing that sleep was going to elude him, Sesshoumaru got out of bed to get ready to pass yet another empty day.

Sesshoumaru walked into the kitchen where Myoga promptly bowed and set a cup of green tea on the table for his master. Upon hearing the entrance of his lord, Jaken immediately prostrated himself at the taiyoukai's feet to await the day's orders.

"What has the kitsune been up to besides going to neko youkai's clinic?" Sesshoumaru asked after taking a sip of the tea.

Jaken raised himself off the ground, but continued to keep his head bowed, answered, "The kit has spent the entire day with the neko youkai and that miko at the mall yesterday."

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow at the information, it seemed that the kit had asked the neko youkai to attend the event with and somehow had gotten the girl to take part as well. Not that he cared who the kitsune would go with as long as he does not embarrass him or his company was all that mattered. Finishing his cup of green tea, Sesshoumaru ordered Jaken to make certain that the dojo was ready for him to use.

After running through to his practice fighting routine a few times, Sesshoumaru felt that it was enough practice for one day and ordered Jaken to clean up the dojo. It was really too bad that no one dared to challenge him anymore, Sesshoumaru thought as went to clean up. His position had been too well established, those who had coverted his position and seek to take it from him in the past were all long gone while the other youkai lords were busy with their own lives. He could have used a fight or two to test out his reflexes. One of these days, he would get the kitsune to come in and give him a good fight. Training Shippou had been an experiment on his part, he had intended to find out what on this earth possessed the miko to travel with his bastard half brother and adopt a youkai for a son. He was also curious as to what a youkai would turn out to be like if raised by a human. But when he saw how the kitsune generally accepted by humans living at the village and how Rin was constantly with him, the taiyoukai realized the kitsune could potentially be of use to him Although he would never admit it, taking the kitsune under his wing and training him to his full potential had been, well, an enjoyable experience. Not to mention seeing the trouble and headaches that Rin, Kohaku, and the kitsune had caused to the exterminator and the monk. The taiyoukai had never seen this mischievous side from his ward while she was under his care and was more than happy to see others suffer from it.

However the memories of Rin and her friends somehow always turn his mind back to the kitsune's adopted mother. The way she managed to control the power that drove both human and youkai to insanity, the scent of her tears, and the gentle smile which she bestowed on him when she thanked him for his help, all came to mind in perfect detail. Sesshoumaru felt a surge of anger rising inside him which he promptly suppressed; it would not do to be known, even to himself, that he, Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands was affected by the mere memory of an insignificant human, no matter how powerful.

Throwing open the door of his room, Sesshoumaru found Ah and Un waiting outside. Seeing their lord come out, the two beings bowed in unison. The dragon youkai had attained human form to better help guard Rin's descendents as time went by. Although the youkai had two separate bodies in their human form, they still preferred to be in close proximity with each other. Now that Rin's family had died out, Sesshoumaru left them at the estate to help out Myoga.

Sesshoumaru strolled passed the dragon youkai and the two fell behind him silently. The taiyoukai walked the hallway to the part of the house where the kitsune used to lived. Without turning his head or breaking his stride, Sesshoumaru asked Ah-Un whether the kitsune had come back to retrieve any of his things. The youkai answered a negative. Although Ah-Un and Myoga cleaned here regularly, it had been fifty years since he last set foot in this part of the house. The last time he had been in this part of the house was at the request of the kitsune to view the museum which Shippou had put together in memory of his friends just before he left. Whatever the kitsune was withholding from him, Sesshoumaru hoped to find a clue in the kitsune's former quarters

'_Thank you for coming Sesshoumaru-sama.' Shippou said bowing to the taiyoukai as his mentor strolled into the room which he had turned into a museum to housed various memorabilia from over the years. These items included little toys and crafts which the children of Rin and the exterminator had made for the kitsune and vice versa. _

_Sesshoumaru gave a cursory glance at these items and turned to look at the kitsune. 'I assumed that you did not have me come here to view these insignificant items.' He commented coolly. Shippou gave him a mock bow and grinned, 'Of course not, Sesshoumaru-sama. I would not dare to waste your valuable time on such childish things although I must admit everything here, no matter how childish, are dear to me.' Shippou said as he picked up a toy from one of the tables and looked at it sadly. _

_It was then that the youkai lord sensed a deep sadness permeating from the kitsune's aura, but promptly disappeared when the kit set the toy back down. This scene sharply reminded Sesshoumaru that he had sensed a similar aura, under the Goshinboku on a night like this, almost five hundred years ago. Shippou looked up at his mentor and gestured for the youkai lord to proceed to the back of room where the sheets were covering parts of the wall. _

'_This is what I wanted to show you.' Shippou said as he began to pull away the sheets that were covering the walls. Under the first sheet, he revealed was a painting of Inuyasha as a human with Kikyou by his side. The second one was of the exterminator, the monk, and the old miko together in the front of their house at the human village. The next painting was of Rin and her mate on their wedding day. When Shippou pulled the final sheet away, Sesshoumaru was stunned by the life-likeness of the painting, even though he did not show it. Shippou had clearly put his heart and soul into it. _

_It was Kagome. Dressed in her outlandish garments, smiling brightly, with one hand stretched out as if to invite the viewer to take her hand and join her in the green meadow behind her. _

_Sesshoumaru spared a glance at the kitsune standing beside him who was looking up at the painting with a wistful look on his face. 'Of everything here, this one meant the most to me. You are probably wondering why I did all this.' without waiting for Sesshoumaru to reply, Shippou turned to his mentor, green eyes bright with moisture, 'I did it so that you won't forget.' _

Stopping in front of the doors to Shippou's former quarters, Sesshoumaru thought to himself, 'No one can deny this Sesshoumaru of what he wants.'

Turning away from the practice range that Souta had put up, Kagome turned looked up at the Goshinboku. Who would have thought that her annoying little brother had a sensitive side. He had given a taste of a past she sorely craved, but was never meant to be hers in the first place. Even though the practice range was far from the ones in the Sengoku Jedai, it was similar enough that for a little while, she could pretend that she was there. Reaching out, her hand touched the spot where Kikyou had pinned Inuyasha with an arrow. Kagome's hand automatically went to her hip where the shikon no tama resided and sighed. All because of this jewel, she had gained much and lost even more. In the time that it took to utter those sixteen words, a part of her life was lost to her forever with no way of proving that it had even existed except the vivid images in her own mind and her broken heart. While her own heart was shattered to pieces, at the same time, she had shattered the hearts of many others, especially the heart of the orphaned kitsune who had depended on her as his sole source of love and care. Although she cannot deny that she was never supposed to be a part of Sengoku Jedai anyways, it had been sheer bad luck that Mistress Centipede had sensed and somehow gotten through the bone eater's well and kidnapped her. Now looking back, Kagome could see the irony of the whole situation. To be honest, it was her, Kagome, not Naraku who was the cause of the despair in the lives of the inhabitants in the Sengoku Jedai fifty years after the death of Kikyou. If it was not for her appearance, the shikon not have reappeared at the time and Naraku would not have been able wreck so much havoc. But ironically she also was their only hope. Really, the fates must hate her with a passion. She heaved another sigh, there was no use in shedding anymore tears for she had none left to shed.

"Kagome?" Hearing her mother's voice, Kagome turned around and smiled a watery smile at her mother. Kagome could swear that her mother had a sixth sense when it came to her children, for she always appeared at the moment when Souta or her needed to be comforted. Mrs. Higurashi reached her daughter and put her arms around her child. Kagome buried her face in her mother's neck soaking up the comfort like parched earth soaking in rain water.

"I'm sorry, Okaa-san. I really am. I did try, but…" Kagome whispered. Mrs. Higurashi stroked her daughter's hair gently, "You are a part of this world, as much as you were of the Sengoku Jedai, Kagome. There is no need for you to try and forget that part of your life." Mrs. Higurashi said softly.

Upon hearing her mother's words, the tears that Kagome thought she could not cry anymore came spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Mrs. Higurashi's heart clenched at the sound of her daughter's desolate sobs. She knew where Kagome's difficulty lied. Souta' idea could only a temporarily solution, alleviating a part of Kagome's despair. Something more permanent had to be found in order for Kagome to recover completely. But how could anyone heal a patient but whose body lied in one world when her heart lied in another?


	15. The Spell is Lifted

The spell is lifted

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I repeat DO NOT. So don't sue

A/N: Thank you everyone for your continual support. You guys are the best. Please continue to R&R. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Kagome let herself into the clinic and sighed. Thank Kami that she had a job to keep her mind off things. Kagome was so lost in her own thoughts that she did not notice she had almost tripped over a chair leg in the waiting area when she felt someone grabbed her shoulder.

Turning around, she saw that it was Dr. Aki who had managed to save her from doing a face plant on the floor. "Ohayo, Dr. Aki, Thank you." Kagome said ruefully, "I guess I'm not quite awake yet."

Inwardly, Kilala frowned at the circles underneath Kagome's eyes. There were obvious signs that she had been crying, but knowing Kagome, there would be no use in pointing those things out to her. So Kilala just smiled and said, "That's alright, I have some coffee in the back if you would like some. According to Kito, it is quite good at driving out the last verges of sleep."

"I think I'll just stick with a cup of hot green tea." Kagome said weakly, "I don't think I'm really up for that kind of stuff this morning."

While the two enjoyed their last cup of tea before opening, Kilala asked Kagome if she had any plans this coming Saturday. Kagome shook her head, and Kilala let out a thankful sigh and shyly asked if Kagome was willing to help her get ready for the ball.

"Oh yes, just as secret between the two of us. Don't tell Kito anything, or else I would never be able to live it down." Kilala said giving Kagome a conspiratorial wink.

Kagome giggled, held out her pinky towards her boss, and promised, "Not a word." Kilala laughed and held out her own pinky in turn.

The week seemed to fly by and soon Saturday was here. When Kilala opened the door to admit Kagome into her apartment, she found the young girl had a number of magazines all about hair design in her arms.

"I borrowed these from my friends," Kagome explained, "I thought you might like to go through some of them to see if you want to use any of the designs."

With that said, the two women immediately got to work going over the magazines and trying on different make up styles. A few hours later, Kilala was ready. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was certain that she would not embarrass Shippou too badly.

"I don't think these shoes were meant for walking, Kagome." Kilala remarked as she looked down at the heels that she was wearing.

"Whoever said pretty shoes are meant walking," Kagome said as she helped Kilala adjust a shawl over the shoulders, "besides these shoes matches your dress. Where is Kito? If he doesn't come soon, you will be late for the gala." Kagome said wrinkling her nose and right on cue, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it for you, Dr. Aki," Kagome called out as she went to the door. Kilala was glad that Kagome had offered to answer the door for her, for she didn't think that she could get have walked that far. 'These heels are modern day torture devices.' Kilala thought as she made her way gingerly out of her room.

When she got to the living room, she saw Kagome was happily chatting with Shippou who was dressed in his tuxedo. When he noticed her, his face lit up with his signature smile. Strolling towards her, he stopped about a foot away, picked up her hand, and raised it to his lips. Kilala blushed at the contact, while Kagome looked at the pair benevolently from behind Shippou. Shippou looked at Kilala's blushing face, and thought that Kagome had done an excellent job to bring out the beauty of her human features.

"You two make such a lovely couple." Kagome said clapping her hands. "I wish I could take a picture for you guys."

"Have no fear, Kagome. I have a camera right here." Shippou said producing a digital camera from his jacket pocket. "That's the whole point of spending the time on the full process." giving her a wink.

"Alright!" Kagome exclaimed happily rushing over to Shippou and began taking pictures of Shippou and Kilala together. Kagome would have continued to take pictures of the two but Shippou insisted that Kagome take a picture with them as well. After a few pictures, the three friends left Kilala's apartment and Shippou drove Kagome home before heading to the gala.

Kilala and Shippou reached the ballroom with plenty of time to spare. Shippou tossed his keys to the valet and helped Kilala out of the car. Tucking Kilala's arm underneath his, Shippou looked at her and asked, "Ready?" Kilala took a deep breath and nodded.

One of the first people they see upon entering the ball room was Hakkaku. Seeing his friends, Hakkaku came up to them and heartily shook Shippou's hand. Seeing it was Kilala who had accompanied Shippou, Hakkaku winked at Shippou before turning to Kilala. "You look absolutely stunning, Dr. Aki." he complimented causing Kilala to blush again.

Looking around, Shippou saw Kouga and Ayame at the other end of room and nudged Kilala who was chatting with Hakkaku. "We'll be back later, Hakkaku. Now I had better mingle or Sesshoumaru would have my skin." Shippou said as he led Kilala towards the wolves. Hakkaku shivered hearing Sesshoumaru's name and nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I'll see you at the table later." turning to greet with other guests who had just come through the door.

Guiding Kilala towards the wolves, Shippou whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Relax Kilala. Just smile and you'll be fine."

"If this is the case, then I think my face is going to be stuck smiling by the end of the night." Kilala whispered back.

"Don't worry; you look beautiful when you smile." Shippou said patting her arm tucked underneath his and giving her a smile. Shippou's compliment caught Kilala off guard causing the neko youkai to blush again.

'At the frequency I'm blushing tonight, I don't have to reapply my makeup at all.' Kilala thought

"Kito, Aki," Ayame called when she caught sight of them. Excusing herself from her guests, Ayame strolled towards them. Shippou's face lit up with a smile and reached out to shake Ayame's hand.

"Ayame, how are you? You certainly are the belle of the ball tonight." said Shippou winking at her. Ayame gave Shippou's hand a hard squeeze and turned to shake Kilala's hand. 

"I'm glad you came tonight, Kilala or else I'll have no one to talk with at my table and be bored out of my mind." Ayame said quietly. Continuing in normal tones, Ayame gestured to Shippou. "But come now, Kito, there are some people I would like you to meet."

The rest of the evening passed fairly uneventfully. It was near midnight by the time that Shippou escorted Kilala back to her apartment. Shippou loosen his tie as he made a beeline for the couch while Kilala kicked off her pretty, but uncomfortable shoes and settled herself in an armchair.

"Well, what did you think of your first social event?" Kilala asked as she got up and went to the kitchen to make some tea for Shippou and herself.

Shippou groaned, "Let's just say that Sesshoumaru is making me work for my salary. Charity galas and other social events are soon going to be a part of my life. According to Ginta, to make connections these days, you have to be 'to see and be seen'. If I want to have a wide net of contacts, I would have to attend various events at various times to make them, which means I'll have less time to spend on Kagome."

Kilala sipped her tea thoughtfully before remarking, "I guess that's why Kouga didn't look too happy when the man sitting beside Ginta mentioned something about

looking forward to seeing Ayame next week, because if Ayame has to attend, she is going to make Kouga go as well." Finally understanding now why Kouga had that

look on his face and Hakkaku nearly choked on his wine.

"Yup, I think that's Ayame's way of getting back at Kouga for demolishing the house." Shippou said evilly. "She knows Kouga absolutely hates getting dressed up and attending these things, so naturally she will make him go."

"Well, he deserved it." Kilala said archly, looking over at her friend before taking a sip of tea.

Shippou decided that the wisest thing to do right now was to change the subject. "Why don't we develop those pictures tomorrow and pay a visit to Kagome at the shrine?" he asked quickly before Kilala could ask him anything else.

* * *

"Kagome," her mother called out, "there's someone here to see you." 

Kagome put down the broom she was using to sweep the shrine grounds and went into the house, all the while wondering who it could be coming to visit her. To her surprise, it was Kito and Dr. Aki.

"Ohayo, Kagome," Kilala said, "Kito had gotten the photos developed and made some copies for you. So we thought that we will just drop by and pay you a visit as well." holding a package from the photo shop towards her.

"Thanks so much, Kito." Kagome beamed at him.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter and spoke, "Kagome, why don't you show Dr. Aki and Kito around the shrine grounds?" Kagome nodded and led her guests out to the shrine grounds.

Shippou's eyes grew moist as he followed Kagome and Kilala out on to the shrine grounds. Here was where everything started and ended for them. Looking around, he could still hear the voices of his friends as they played together in the fields while Sango and Miroku looked on at them from the edge. Glancing towards the direction of the well, Shippou recalled the nights he had sat on the edge and cried for the loss of Kagome. For five hundred years, Shippou had always imagined that Kagome was living happily in her time, but when he saw her again, he realized that she, like him, had lived in emotional turmoil.

Kagome led them under the Goshinboku and told them some of the legends associated with the tree. Shippou reached out a hand and touched the trunk before turning to Kagome, and asked causally, "Have you ever heard of the legends about a hanyou pinned to this tree and the shikon no tama, Kagome?"

Hearing the question, Kilala immediately leveled a sharp glance at her friend and turned to look at Kagome.

"Why… why do you ask? What kind of legends have you heard of, Kito?" Kagome stammered, her heart pounding against her ribs while her hand automatically went to her hip where the shikon now resided.

Kito's question had alarmed Kagome for this was the first time that anyone besides her family mentioned about the shikon no tama. She was certain that there was nothing written about the shikon no tama in this time for she had checked many books regarding Japanese myths and legends at the library and did not find any references to the said object.

"I love researching about Japanese traditional myths and legends in my spare time." Shippou replied leaning back against the tree and looking up into its branches. "During one of my researches, I heard legends about a hanyou being pinned to the Goshinboku by his miko lover over some quarrel about the shikon no tama. Later, I saw an actual collection associated with the same legends."

Hearing this, Kagome staggered against the tree and tried to stop her body from trembling. This is was the first time since she got back that she heard anyone spoke of that particular time period, much less legends concerning Inuyasha.

"Do you know where the collection is, Kito?" Kagome asked trying hard to keep the tremor from her voice.

Shippou answered nonchalantly; as if completely oblivious to the excited state that Kagome was in, "Of course, do you want to see it? I must admit though you are the first person I've met who showed an interest in that particular collection."

"Is it alright if we go see it now? I'll just go inside on the way and tell my okaa-san about it." Kagome asked looking at Shippou intently.

Shippou nodded his assent and got to his feet. He gestured for Kagome to go on ahead. Looking over Kagome's head at Kilala, Shippou sent an apologetic look to her and followed Kagome.

The three got into Shippou's car and drove off. As they were driving, Kagome looked down at her hands which were clenched tightly until her knuckles were white. Glancing out the window, Kagome noticed that they have left the city and into an area which she was not familiar with.

Shippou's heart pounded loudly as he drove towards Sesshoumaru's estate. He looked in the review mirror to check on Kagome and spoke with fake cheer, "We're almost there."

Parking the car at a side entrance, Shippou got out and opened the door for Kagome. Taking out his keys, the kitsune prayed that Sesshoumaru did not change the lock in his absence. Shippou let out a sigh of relief when the door unlocked and led the two women upstairs towards his old quarters.

"Don't be surprised if you see some odd things in the room. This guy is a bit of an odd ball." Shippou heard himself say in an attempt to lighten the mood as they approach the museum. His comment elicited a strange look from Kilala which Shippou shrugged off.

"Ah… here we are." Shippou said as they stopped at a closed door. "You guys wait here for a bit while I go in to let some light in." Shippou ordered and went into the room to draw the curtains open.

Kagome thought her heart was going to burst when Kito stopped. She was glad that Kito had asked them to stay in the hallway. It gave her a chance to steady her nerves and prepare herself for what was to come.

"Come on in," Shippou called as he came to the door, "the collection you want to see is over here Kagome." directing to her to the back of the room.

Kagome and Kilala stepped inside and looked around the room. Kilala recognized many of the items placed carefully on the tables. She had no idea that Shippou had kept them even after so many years.

Kagome walked towards the back with Kito in front of her and Dr. Aki behind her. When she got close enough, she saw that there were sheets covering what she assumed were paintings on the walls.

'Here goes nothing.' Shippou thought as he drew the sheet away from the first painting.

Kagome looked at the painting and gasped. It was a human Inuyasha with Kikyou by his side and both were smiling. Seeing her lost love brought tears to her eyes.

'Oh, Inuyasha, I thought I'll never see your face again.' Kagome thought as she reached out to touch the painting.

The sound of cloth made Kagome quickly dropped her hand. How rude of her to touch a priceless painting of a stranger, she hoped that no one saw what she had almost done. She turned her attention to the second painting and became rooted to the spot. The painter had drawn a picture of Miroku, Sango, and Kaede. Miroku's arm was wrapped protectively around Sango.

'Oh, Sango, Miroku, Kaede, I miss you guys so much.' Kagome thought wishing that she could there with them and share in their joy.

Shippou was so tempted to reveal who he was when he saw Kagome's reaction to the painting of Inuyasha. The longing look upon her face was almost unbearable. He knew how much she loved the hanyou and how it must have killed her when she decided to let him go and not knowing what would happen. Shippou cleared his throat, breaking Kagome out of her reverie and directed her attention to the painting he had just revealed.

"Oh…Sango," was all Kagome could say when she saw the older looking Kohaku on his wedding day with his bride beside him. She looked intently at the young woman and gasped when she recognized who it was. It was Rin, the young girl who traveled with Sesshoumaru.

"This is the last one in the collection." Kito said as he guided Kagome to another wall. Kagome watched as the young man walked up to the covered painting, drew the sheet away, and came face to face with herself.

By this time, she had no doubt who had drawn these pictures. There was only one person she knew who loved to draw and looked forward to her gifts of crayons and chocolate whenever she goes back: Shippou.

Looking at the painting that Shippou had drawn for her, a tear streaked down her cheek. How she wish she could take the hand of her other self and be drawn back into feudal era.

She was so intended on the painting that she did not notice Kito had come to stand beside her until he spoke.

"This is a portrait of the Miko of the Shikon no tama. This is my favorite out of the whole collection." Kito said simply as he stood and admired the painting.

Unable to look at the painting any longer, Kagome bowed her head while silent tears coursed down her face. Although she had desired to have some connection to the past, but seeing these paintings just reminded her of the things that might have been had she stayed with her friends.

Shippou got on one knee beside Kagome and took one of her hand in his making her look at him. "Kagome, I have waited five hundred years to see you and call you momma again. Please don't make me wait any longer." Shippou's eyes clouded with his tears.

Shippou's word penetrated her misery, Kagome wretched her hand from Kito's grasp in disbelief and took a step back. She gasped as she watched a shimmering mist surround Kito and revealed his true form.

"Shippou?" Kagome asked uncertainly trying to find a shadow of her adopted son in the adult youkai standing in front of her.

"Hi, momma," Shippou said as he closed the distance Kagome had placed between them and wrapped his arms about her. "I've missed you so much."

Kilala watched the reunion with a smile on her lips and wiped a tear from her eye. Perhaps now, the heartache of both mother and son can be healed. Finally remembering that Kilala had come along with them, Shippou released Kagome and gestured for Kilala to come to them.

Smiling at Kagome, Shippou gestured to Kilala who dropped her concealment spell and said, "Kagome, I bet you could never guess who Aki really is."

When the concealment spell was dropped, now that she knew youkai existed in her time, Kagome realized that strange but familiar feeling she always felt at the clinic was. She had been feeling Dr. Aki's jaki. Kagome looked closely at the markings on Dr. Aki's face and her eyes widen when she saw the diamond shaped marking on Dr. Aki's forehead. She had seen the same marking on a tiny neko youkai back in the Sengoku Jedai.

"Kilala?" Kagome guessed and tears started to well up in her eyes when Dr. Aki nodded an affirmative. Running to her long lost friend, Kagome threw her arms around the woman and held her tightly. Kilala hugged the young woman back.

"I'm glad to see you again, Kagome."

Kagome pulled back from Kilala to take a better look at her. Kagome felt Shippou placing a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her adopted son. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to see her son again. She looked on fondly as Shippou dragged her from one table to another describing in detail about each toy that he has collected over the years from his charges and some anecdotes about them.

Kilala stifled a laugh behind her hand as she followed Kagome and Shippou around the room. "Shippou feels that he can become a child again now that he has found you, Kagome." nudging her assistant. Turning to look at Kagome, Kilala sensed that the miko had wanted to know about what happened after she was gone.

"Shippou," Kilala interrupting her friend's monologue. "I'm sure Kagome would like to hear about what happened after she left." and Kagome gave Kilala a thankful look.

Shippou slapped a hand to his forehead, rushed back to Kagome and gave her a hug. "Sorry momma, I got a little bit carried away. So what do you want to know?" he asked Kagome earnestly.

Kagome and Kilala listened to Shippou's recounting of the happenings after Kagome left. Kagome laughed at all the tricks that he, Kohaku, and Rin had gotten themselves into over the years. Shippou recounted the story of how Kohaku got permission to marry Rin with relish. He was doing a great impression of Sesshoumaru threatening Kohaku to treat Rin well or else when a cold voice behind them asked, "What is the meaning of this?"

Kagome and Kilala immediately turned around when Shippou said, "Uh oh." Kagome's eyes widen in shock when she recognized the figure standing in front of her.

"Sess… Sesshoumaru?" Kagome gasped out and her world went black.


	16. Moving On

Sesshoumaru stared at the painting of the Miko of the Shikon no Tama while waiting for the arrival of Shippou. He detected the lingering scent of the living counterpart of the subject of the painting. The miko became a frequent visitor to the estate after her reunion with Shippou, much to the joy of Myoga and Ah-Uh, and the dismay of Jaken.

"She is really something, isn't she?" Shippou asked as he strolled into the room with a cheerful smile.

"You're late." Sesshoumaru said crispy, eyeing the causal clothing that Shippou had on.

Shippou pretended to not have heard Sesshoumaru's comment as he reached his mentor and turned to look at the painting which Sesshoumaru had been contemplating.

"I am going to miss her." Shippou remarked wistfully looking at the portrait with his hands in his pockets.

Sesshoumaru quirked his eye brow just a bit at the kitsune's cryptic remark, but as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared.

Shippou chuckled, by now he was used to reading the nuances of Sesshoumaru's behavior. He had been terrified of the seemingly emotionless taiyoukai at first. But under Rin's tutorage and continual contact with the Lord of the Western Lands over the years, Shippou learned to read and interpret the slightest shift in Sesshoumaru's body language.

"Kagome has decided that she would study interior design overseas. I'm taking two weeks off, starting next week to go with her to get her settled in." Shippou said giving a sidelong glance at Sesshoumaru to see how he would react at the news.

"You would willingly let her go knowing that there would fewer opportunities for you to be with her?" Sesshoumaru asked as he turned to look at his protégé, not overly concerned with Shippou being on vacation. After all, he had spent fifty years without his help, two weeks was not going to make a big difference.

Shippou shrugged, "You always do the best that you can for your loved ones, even if it means letting them go far away to pursue their paths in life."

Hearing Shippou's statement, Sesshoumaru realized how much Shippou has changed since Kagome came back into his life. He had watched the kitsune pined away night after night by the well after the miko's unannounced departure. Rin and the others tried to comfort him, but to no avail. It wasn't until Sesshoumaru started training him to help safeguard the children of his friends that he picked himself back up.

For five hundred years, Sesshoumaru watched as the kitsune immersed himself into his duties guarding the children of his friends. To everyone else, he was the eternally cheerful uncle whom you can depend on to offer a helping hand, sound advice, and a shoulder to cry on when the need arises. But to those who have watched him over the years, he was as tense as a high strung filly. He rarely lets his charges out of his sight, as if fearing that they might suddenly disappear. There was also a longing in Shippou's eyes that appeared when he sees mothers interacting with their children. Now for the first time in five hundred years, Sesshoumaru could see that Shippou was genuinely happy. Sensing any further conversation would be a waste of his time, Sesshoumaru turned and left the museum.

Shippou watched his mentor leave the room and shook his head. It takes a lot for Sesshoumaru to admit things, even if it was something that was close to his heart. Shippou turned back to the painting of Kagome and gave a sigh. It had only seemed like yesterday when he first brought her here to show her that the past that she knew was not dead and soon she would be leaving everything behind again to start a new life somewhere else.

"Regretting your decision to let Kagome go?"

Shippou turned around and grinned when he saw that it was Myoga coming into the room. Shippou walked over the aged youkai and helped him to a chair.

"I'm not that old yet." The flea protested, but at the same time he gave a look of gratitude to the kitsune as he sat down.

Shippou grinned, knowing full well that the flea youkai always pretended to be made of sterner stuff than he really was.

"Kind of." Shippou admitted as he took a seat in another chair nearby. "I mean, it's only been a little over a year since she remembered us and we've been apart for so long. So I do wish that we could have more time together."

Myoga nodded in understanding, "Yes. Kagome is a remarkable young woman. It would be hard to let her go. But at least this time, she isn't going to leave without saying good bye. When is she leaving?"

"Sometime next week. I came back this week to let Sesshoumaru know that Kagome is leaving and to find something for her to take along." Shippou replied.

Myoga nodded again as he attempted to get out of his seat, "I would like to see her again. Bring her out here for another visit before she leaves, if you can."

"I'll try," Shippou said jumping up to help Myoga. "But she's going to be busy saying good byes for the next few days."

* * *

Kagome looked around her room to make sure that she had packed everything she wanted to into moving boxes. When she saw that everything has pretty much been packed, she sat down at her desk and raising her arms high above her head to stretch her back. 

"Do you need any help, Kagome?" her mother asked coming into the room carrying a pile of fresh laundry.

Kagome got up to help her mother placed the clothes onto her bed. "I've only got to put my clothes and some last minute items into my suitcase and that's it."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter. In a few days, her Kagome would be embarking on a new stage of her life. Who would have thought that a simple summer job would change her daughter's life so completely? She had watched Kagome stressing over her homework and tests, especially math, when she traveled back and forth through time. Then she watched as her daughter seemed to have lost all hope of ever being happy again. Now Kagome had not only managed to put her life back together, but moving on as well.

"I am proud of you, Kagome. No matter what you decide to do." Mrs. Higurashi said as she reached over the clothes pile to give her daughter a hug.

"Thank you, okaa-san." Kagome hugged her mother back tightly. "I'll miss you. Promise me that you will take care of yourself while I'm gone." Kagome said, her voice getting thick in an attempt to hold back her tears.

Mrs. Higurashi gave Kagome a pat on the back and pulled away from her. Grabbing a tissue off Kagome's nightstand, Mrs. Higurashi wiped away Kagome's tears. "Of course, I will." Mrs. Higurashi said. "Shippou and Kilala both have promised to drop in as often as they could. Your grandfather had promised not to shower them with ofudas when they come visit. So don't worry."

Hearing her mother's comment, Kagome cracked a watery smile. The day that Kagome revealed to her family that Dr. Aki and Kito were actually her youkai friends from the Sengoku Jedai, her grandfather yanked her mother and Souta behind him and tried to attack Shippou using the kitchen broom. Since then, her grandfather had showered both Shippou and Kilala with ofudas whenever they visited, much to the dismay and embarrassment of everyone else. Hearing the doorbell, Mrs. Higurashi got off Kagome's bed and went downstairs to open the door for their guests.

Shippou smiled at the petit form of his grandmother when the door opened. "Good afternoon, obaa-san." He said as he stepped into the house. Mrs. Higurashi returned her adopted grandson's smile and led him to the living room where they could wait for Kagome comfortably.

Shippou sat himself down in one of the sofas looking warily around for any signs of Grandfather Higurashi. As if sensing his thoughts, his grandmother said reassuringly, "Don't worry, Shippou. I had Souta take his Jii-san to the doctor's this afternoon. They won't be home yet."

Hearing the news, Shippou visibly relaxed which caused his grandmother to smile. "Is everything ready for Kagome?" she asked her grandson who had coordinated everything to ensure that Kagome's departure would be smooth.

"Yes, obaa-san." Shippou answered, "I have checked everything and it will be fine."

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. Her Kagome was going to leave home for a very long time. It was not that she was not used to the idea of Kagome going off on her own. She had gotten used to that while Kagome traveled back and forth in time and knew Kagome was absolutely capable of taking care of herself. But this time, Kagome was going to another country where the language and customs were completely different. Even when she had traveled back to the Sengoku Jedai, everyone still spoke the same language and the customs weren't completely different. Not to mention that Inuyasha and her friends were there to take care of her and she could have come back anytime she wanted.

Guessing the reason for Mrs. Higurashi's sigh, Shippou leaned forward and took her hands into his. "Don't worry obaa-san. Kagome won't be alone there. Ginta is going to with her and stay there for a little while. I will go visit her whenever I can and if momma wants to leave anytime, I will make the arrangements for her to come back."

Mrs. Higurashi withdrew her hands from Shippou's grasp and gave them a pat on the back. "I never got the chance to say thank you for all that you have done for Kagome." Mrs. Higurashi said quietly. "Without your help, I don't think Kagome would be able to put the past behind her, much less finding a path to her future and being able to travel upon it." unshed tears making her eyes bright.

"In the Sengoku Jedai, she took care of me when I was lost and alone. So it's natural that I shall do the same for her now." Shippou said as he handed a tissue to his adopted grandmother.

Mrs. Higurashi quickly wiped her eyes dry when they both heard Kagome coming down the stairs. Kagome looked at both her mother and Shippou with a quizzical look on her face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Is everything alright, Okaa-san?" Kagome asked with concern. "If not I could stay for a bit until Souta and Ojii-san gets home."

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head and smiled at Kagome, telling her to enjoy herself tonight at her going away party. With that, she shooed both Shippou and Kagome out the door. Once they were in the car on their way to pick up Kilala, Kagome asked Shippou what they had been talking about before she came down. Shippou told her that her mother was just wanted to know whether everything was ready and gave her a smile. Kagome knew that Shippou was hiding something from her, but seeing that he won't divulge it, she let it rest.

Kilala was waiting for them at the curb when they drove up to her apartment. Smiling, Kilala opened the back passenger door and slipped into the back seat. When she was comfortably settled, Shippou started the car again and drove to Kouga's house where Kagome's farewell part was to be held.

When they arrived at Kouga's house, they found that Hakkaku had also only just arrived and was carrying in several grocery bags into the house. Shouting a greeting to his friend, Shippou parked his car beside Hakkaku's and opened the trunk of his car and began handing out bags to Kilala and Kagome. Shippou indicated with a nod of his head for Kagome to follow Kilala inside with him bringing up the rear. Kagome followed Kilala as the neko youkai walked down the hallway and into the kitchen where a flurry of activity was happening. Kagome's eyes bulged at the sheer amount of grocery bags that lined the counter top, the table, and the kitchen floor. Ayame laughed seeing Kagome's reaction.

"I take it you have forgotten how much youkai can eat when they put their minds to it." Ayame said coming over to relieve Kagome of her burden.

"Yes, it would appear to be so. But this is a lot of food." Kagome said dazedly.

"Trust me, the four males here." Ayame said jerking her head in the direction of Shippou and Hakkaku, "this is just enough to make them full."

"Don't forget, Ah-Un and Myoga are coming as well." Kilala said coming to join them after disposing her bags on the kitchen floor.

"That's the last of the lot." Shippou said as he and Hakkaku came through the kitchen door with the last of the groceries. "Where do you want them, Ayame?" lifting a handful of grocery bags.

Ayame scrunch her eyebrows and looked around the room for space and indicated for the men to put the bags on the floor. Then she started to organize everyone to help unpack and sort the contents of the grocery bags. Meanwhile, Kouga and Ginta have hauled out numerous chilled coolers and placed them against the wall. Kagome was given the task of folding up the empty grocery bags with Myoga who had arrived with Ah and Un after Shippou brought in the last of the groceries.

When she finished her task, Kagome went to the kitchen to see what else she could help with. She could only marveled at the speed of the dinner preparation for Hakkaku had cleared the table and was now placing fruits, salads, sushi, and other ready to eat cold dishes. Ayame and Kilala had finish preparing the meat for the grill which Kouga and Shippou were setting up outside. Ah-Un carried plates and utensils to the side table ready for use. Ginta checked to make sure there were plenty of drinks while waiting for the kettle to boil water for tea.

A chuckle from beside her brought her attention to Myoga who had come to see how the preparation was going. "I take it this is the first time you've seen youkai speed used for something else other than fighting." observing the surprised look on Kagome's face.

"We are proud of our fighting skills, but we do need a more constructive outlet these days." Ginta said smiling as he carried a tea service over to them.

"Yes, or else my house would be in the state of constant repair." Ayame said dryly as she handed plates of meat for Ah and Un to take outside to Kouga while throwing a nasty look at her husband's back while Kagome sent a questioning look in Ginta's direction. Ginta just shook his head and Kagome left the matter alone.

"I heard that." Kouga said, poking his head through the opened door. "How do you want your steak to be cooked, Kagome? Medium or medium well?"

"Medium well, please and thanks Kouga." Kagome beamed at her friend.

"No problem." And Kouga turned back to the grill to help Shippou keep an eye on the food now cooking on the grill.

Ayame smiled at the miko who had become a good friend over the year. She, now understood why Shippou loved Kagome so much and the attraction that Kouga felt over her. Kagome possessed a natural charm that people find appealing. She was a good listener and had a knack at sensing and soothing other people's needs, always placing their needs before her own. It was no wonder that Shippou had been reluctant to share the young woman's attention with his friends after being deprived of her for five hundred years. But Kilala pointed out that his friends were Kagome's friends first, and Kagome would be most displeased if she found out that he acted so selfishly. Not wanting to anger his rather formidable mother, Shippou told Kagome about the wolves and arranged a reunion party.

She was going to miss Kagome when she leaves for her studies. It was a good thing that Ginta had a project to pursue in the city where Kagome was going to study, although Ayame had no doubt of Kagome's abilities to take care of herself and make friends there, she was glad that there would be someone familiar for her to turn to for support in the beginning. The sound of the patio door opening and the smell of meat wafting into the room jolted Ayame from her musings as the men scrambled to sit themselves down and began inhaling the food, while the women groaned at the complete disregard of table manners.

* * *

For the next few days, time seemed to fly by for Kagome in the flurry of last minute packing and saying good byes to her friends. Her friends have put together an album/scrapbook of their times together which they presented to her at their farewell party. Hojo had given her a set of drawing tools which he hoped that she would find useful in her studies. Kagome thanked her friends with tears in her eyes and promising to write to them as often as she could. On the eve of her departure, Mrs. Higurashi prepared Kagome's favorite dishes and invited Shippou and Kilala over for dinner. Looking at the faces of her family, Kagome realized that it was going to be a long time before she would eat dinner at the shrine again. 

After dinner, everyone pitched in to help Mrs. Higurashi clean up. Kagome wandered around on the shrine grounds committing to memory every detail there. She stopped underneath the Goshinboku and touched the trunk. Leaning her back against it, Kagome looked up at the moon peeking through its leafy branches and wondered if the moon will look the same over there. Footsteps coming towards her broke her from her reverie. She turned to see Kilala coming towards her.

"Feeling anxious?" Kilala asked teasingly as she sat down at a bench placed underneath the tree and patted the empty space beside her inviting Kagome to sit down.

"A little." Kagome admitted taking the indicated spot beside her friend. "A few weeks ago, it seemed like a long time. But now it seems surreal." Shaking her head, Kagome continued, "So much have happened this past year that I feel I can't even begin to keep track of it all. Seeing you and Shippou again, finding Sesshoumaru was still alive and haven't aged a day, then Kouga them. Studied feverishly in everything and got accepted abroad. It is a bit overwhelming." giving Kilala a rueful look.

Kilala chuckled, "I have to admit, for a normal mortal, it is a bit overwhelming. But I'm sure you won't change a thing if you were given the option of choosing all over again."

Kagome laughed weakly, "Am I that predictable?" she asked looking at her friend.

"Let's just say that we know you well." Kilala answered smiling, picking up a package beside her. "Now, I have a going away present for you." and handed the wrapped package to her.

"Can I open it?" Kagome asked as she tried to guess what it was by feeling.

Kilala gave the young woman a playful swat "Of course you can, I want to know if you'll like it."

Grinning, Kagome meticulously unwrapped her present and revealed a box. Opening the box, she found tissue paper wrapped around what appeared to be a picture frame. Kagome peeled away the paper and gasped. "Oh, Kilala…" It was a photograph of Sango cradling Kilala in her kitten form with Miroku beside her.

"I got Shippou to help with this." Kilala explained blushing slightly. "I thought an actual photograph was better than a painting. So I had him cast an illusion of Miroku while he took the form of Sango and I revert to my kitten form since his illusions can't really hold up weight."

"Thank you so much, Kilala." Kagome caught Kilala in a fierce hug. One regret she had was that she never had any pictures of her Sengoku Jedai friends to remember them by and Kilala's gift had remedied one of her many regrets stemmed from the past. When she saw the painting that Shippou had drawn, Kagome had wanted a copy for herself. But knowing how busy Shippou was and all that he had done for her, she didn't want to trouble him anymore.

"Kagome, Kilala. Come back in for dessert." Shippou called out from the kitchen door. Grinning at each other, the two women walked away from the shadows beneath the Goshinboku and into the light of the house.

Shippou and Kilala showed up at the Higurashi Shrine bright and early the next morning with a van he had rented for the day to take Kagome, her family, and her luggage to the airport. Mrs. Higurashi invited them for breakfast which everyone ate quickly and Kilala helped with the clean up while Shippou and Souta loaded the van. Kagome looked around her room one more time to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything and rushed down the steps to the waiting van. When Shippou saw that everyone had piled into the vehicle, he headed to the airport.

Shippou and the Higurashi family found Kouga and the others waiting for them at the check in area. Kagome and her mother decided it would be wisest to keep the real identities of Kouga them a secret from grandfather, in the interest of peace. The others exchanged pleasantries while Shippou, Ginta, and Kagome went to the counter and checked in their baggage.

"Why in the world is your suitcase so heavy, Shippou? It just barely fall under the weigh limit." Ginta asked when they have gotten their boarding passes and rejoined the others.

"Well, technically more than half of that weight belongs to Kagome." Shippou said wickedly looking at Kagome. "Kagome seemed to find more and more things she wanted to bring as she packed and in the end, conscripted my baggage allowance as well." Grinning, Shippou moved away from Kagome's way as she reached out to smack him.

"Don't tease her, Shippou." Kilala scolded while Ayame added her sympathies to Kagome as they made their way to their gate chattering.

"You don't want to miss your plane, Kagome." Mrs. Higurashi reminded gently when they had milled about for a bit waiting for Kagome to take the lead. At Mrs. Higurashi's reminder, everyone went quiet and someone cleared their throat. Turning to Ginta, Mrs. Higurashi bowed slightly to him, "Thank you once again for going with her. I know you'll guide Kagome in her endeavors."

Ginta stepped forward and bowed back, "I will certainly do my best. Mrs. Higurashi."

Kagome watched as her mother went to Shippou, gave him a hug, and thanked him for everything. Kagome felt a lump rising in her throat when her mother came towards her. There were signs of tears in her eyes as she took Kagome into her arms.

"Take care of yourself, Kagome. Your father would have been proud of you. We'll miss you, write to us as often as you can."

"I will, okaa-san, every day." Kagome said, her voice becoming choked as she hugged her mother back trying hard to hold back her tears. She knew it would be a long while before she would feel her mother's arms around her again. Kagome hugged each family member in turn, then her friends. She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and followed Shippou and Ginta. She turned around and waved to her family and friends one last time before stepping through the door into the security check point.

Kagome passed the security check point without mishap and joined her friends. "Where shall we go now?" She asked glancing at her watch. "We still have lots of time before we board the plane."

"We could go to the flight lounge." Shippou suggested looking at Ginta who nodded. "It's more comfortable waiting there. Besides, I could certainly use a snack before we get onto the plane."

Ginta led his friends to the flight lounge where they had a second breakfast, at least Shippou did anyways while Ginta and Kagome just had tea.

"You don't usually eat this much, Shippou," Kagome noted, eyebrows furrowing.

Shippou took a drink from his cup before answering Kagome. "I am loading myself up on the last decent bit of Japanese food while I can."

Understanding Kagome's worried expression, Ginta kicked Shippou's legs beneath the table. "Stop scaring Kagome, Shippou. You're only going to ruin Kagome's first plane ride." With that said, the three of them rose out of their seats and made their way to their boarding gate.

Kagome sat down gingerly into her seat and looked about her. She had heard stories about the luxury and comfort of the first class cabins and found them to be true. When Kouga and Ayame found out that this was going to be her first time on a plane, they had insisted on upgrading her ticket to a first class one. She was reluctant to take their offer at first until Ayame explained it would be their farewell and congratulatory gift to her. Shippou had arranged for Kagome to get a window seat so she can see outside whenever she wanted. She looked at Shippou whose seat was beside hers to see what he was doing.

Shippou turned to her and grinned, "The selection isn't as bad as I thought."

Ginta scoffed as he sat down in the seat in front of them after stowing their carry on luggage in the overhead compartments. "You're just damn picky, Shippou, yet you'll eat everything at the same time."

Shippou sniffed, "It's not my fault that I have high expectations."

Kagome stifled a giggle seeing the two bicker like little children and reached into the pocket in front of her seat to take a look at the menu. Her eyes grew large at the different selections that she could chose from and all the extra food that she could have anytime. She licked her lips in vexation knowing it would be hard to choose from that tempting list.

As if sensing her thoughts, Ginta spoke, "Oh yes, Kagome, you can try everything on that list. Ayame guessed that you would be hard pressed to make a choice, so she ordered extras. Besides anything that you don't finish, I suspect, Shippou will," grinning at the back of Shippou's head.

Shippou chose to ignore Ginta's comment as he rummaged through his bag for a pre flight snack while muttering about the arrogant of wolves.

Sesshoumaru looked up from his work to see what had disturbed him. His keen senses alerted him that, instead of standing outside his study awaiting orders, Ah and Un were in the garden instead. Wondering what had brought this change, Sesshoumaru went out to the balcony overlooking the gardens to find Ah, Un, and Myoga looking up into the sky.

"We should see it soon as it flies overhead." Ah said.

Sesshoumaru wondered what in the world were his retainers talking about when an airplane flew overhead.

"There it is." Un exclaimed as he and Ah waved wildly at the passing airplane.

It was only after seeing the plane, Sesshoumaru remembered that the kitsune was taking the miko to her studies abroad today and would be gone for two whole weeks to help her "settle in." Looking at his retainers who, thankfully, have stopped waving at the airplane, Sesshoumaru realized that the scent of the miko was rapidly fading from his estate. Usually, he would welcome such a quick dissipation if a human must come to his house. But as it is with everything about the miko, there is something unique in her essence that allows him to tolerate it, and even come to remember it. Not that Sesshoumaru, taiyoukai of the Western Lands, would ever admit.

Settling back at his desk, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and felt a breeze, coming in from the open window, upon his face while his traitorous mind took him back to a time when he had roamed the countryside searching for answers.

Kagome peered out her window as the plane as the ground appeared further and further away. She felt Shippou lean over her shoulder and Kagome moved aside to let Shippou have a glimpse at the rapidly rising plane.

"Oh, look. Kagome. There's Sesshoumaru's estate." Shippou said pointing to a large green area on the ground. "I think I see three figures there as well."

"Ah-Un and Myoga did say that they will see us off even though they couldn't come to the airport." Kagome murmured still looking at the scenery beneath her.

Kagome leaned back into her seat when the city buildings became a tiny speck through her window. There is no turning back now. She will face everything her choice might throw at her when she gets to her new home. But meanwhile, she will enjoy all the wonderful things her flight has to offer, starting with her very own in-flight viewing station.


	17. The Beginning of a dream

A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay in updating. I have been working on my other stories. Please R&R, and oh , I do not own Inuyasha.

"Wake up, Kagome. We're home," a gentle but insistent voice broke into Kagome's dreams. Kagome opened her eyes and saw the stairs that led up to the shrine. Finally, after three long years, she was home.

"Come on, Kagome," Souta called from outside carrying a suitcase. "Come and see what we did to your room."

Kagome rubbed her face and groaned, she wished that she had her brother's energy. She dragged herself out of the car and went around to the trunk to see what she could do to help. Seeing her tired face, Kilala waved for her to go on ahead and not worry about the luggage which Kagome was more than happy to comply.

Kagome lumbered up the steps sleepily, the stairs just seemed to go on forever. At last, she reached the top and the lights from the house beckoned invitingly to her. With the prospect of a warm shower and more sleep to spur her on, Kagome picked up her pace. She reached her old room without further ado, deciding to forego the shower until tomorrow, Kagome changed into a set of clean clothes that had been laid out for her, climbed into bed, and promptly fell asleep.

Kagome woke up with the thought that she was home and leapt out of bed. Afraid that she might wake up her family if she used the shower now, she looked around her room to see what her family did to her room during her absence. The walls have been repainted and the furniture changed. The frilly pink theme of old had been replaced by a light blue theme instead giving the room a more grown up feel. She opened the drawers and found, to her delight, that her mother had unpacked some of her clothes and placed them in the drawers just the way she liked it while she slept last night.

Kagome headed to the bathroom when she heard footsteps coming from the other rooms. Feeling refreshed after her shower, Kagome bounced downstairs as the heavenly smell of her mother's cooking wafted up the stairs.

"Ohiyo, okaa-san, breakfast smells good this morning," Kagome chirped.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled, it was good to have her daughter home again. The house just seemed empty without her presence. "Ohiyo, Kagome, did you sleep well?" she asked.

Kagome nodded and went to help her mother set the table for breakfast. She wanted to get some bowls, but realized that she did not remember where they were kept.

"It's the cupboard to your left," her mother said before Kagome could ask.

Kagome grinned sheepishly and collected the bowls from the cupboard that her mother had indicated. Meanwhile, Souta had come downstairs still wearing his pajamas while her grandfather came in from the shrine grounds after making his morning devotions. The family sat down at the table and had breakfast together. Kagome took a bite of her breakfast and closed her eyes to savor the flavors of her mother's cooking. Her mother's cooking was one of the things that Kagome missed the most during her years abroad. Nothing seemed to speak of home more than the food that her mother made.

"Do you like what we did with your room, Kagome?" Souta asked in between bites.

Kagome nodded assent for her mouth was full of oden. Seeing her nod, Souta let out a whoop of triumph. "Yes, I win!" while Kagome looked on in confusion.

Seeing his sister's confused look, Souta grinned sheepishly and explained, "You see, when Shippou and I were deciding on the color scheme of your room, we had a disagreement. He wanted green, but I said that you would like blue better. In the end, we used rock, paper, and scissors to decide what color to use. I won, but Shippou still thinks that you'll like green better."

Kagome sighed, she could just imagine the five hundred and fifty year old kitsune arguing like a teenager with a teenager. Mrs. Higurashi just smiled and gently reminded Souta that he will be late if he doesn't hurry up. Looking at the clock, Souta gave a little yawp and wolfed down the remainder of his breakfast. Kagome giggled as she watched her brother frantically raced up the stairs to change. He came thumping back down and ran out the door yelling his good byes. Her grandfather just shook his head muttered about the foolish youths of today as he headed out to the shrine grounds again.

"Was I like that at back then, okaa-san?" Kagome asked eyes lighting up in amusement as she carried the breakfast dishes to the kitchen sink.

"Very much so," Mrs. Higurashi said smiling, "he takes after you."

"I was afraid of that," Kagome joked as she went to finish collecting the dishes.

Mrs. Higurashi sent a small prayer of thanks to Kami for allowing her to make the right choice in letting Kagome go study abroad three years ago. At first, she had some doubts about the venture fearing that she would not be able to adapt to a completely different culture. But then, she realized that, perhaps, her daughter needed a completely different environment to forget her past. Three years of absence was a small price to pay to see her daughter's spirit restored.

"Do you need any help here, okaa-san?" Kagome asked.

Mrs. Higurashi looked up hastily, "Oh no, I'm alright. Why don't you go finish unpacking your things and look up your friends? I'm sure that they are more than happy to see you again."

At the mention of her friends, Kagome brightened. "Arigato okaa-san, I will look them up. I should also email to my college friends as well to let them know that I have arrived safely," and headed up the stairs in rush.

Watching Kagome's headlong dash up the stairs, Mrs. Higurashi just sighed and shook her head. There are some things about Kagome that would never change.

* * *

Shippou hummed along with the radio as he drove to Kilala's clinic to pick her up for their weekly dinner. Kilala suggested it when Shippou threw himself into his work to stop himself from missing Kagome that he nearly forgot to eat or sleep. When Kouga, Ayame, and Hakkaku found out about their get together, they decided that a weekly meeting of friends was exactly what they needed and joined Shippou and Kilala. So it became their tradition, since it was a time for them to relax and just be themselves.

Shippou parked the car in front of Kilala's clinic and walked briskly up the walkway to Kilala's door. Knowing that the clinic was already closed, Shippou rang the doorbell and waited for Kilala to come out. To his surprise, it was Kagome who came to open the door for him.

"Surprised?" Kilala teased coming out from the surgery.

"You know I am," Shippou retorted making a face at Kilala while Kagome laughed. "Why don't you come and have dinner with us, Kagome?" he said to her.

"I already am and we're going to be late if we don't hurry," Kagome said glancing at the clock.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Shippou exclaimed and made gestured dramatically for the two women to leave first.

Kagome and Shippou headed to the car while Kilala locked the front door of the clinic. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming, Kagome?" Shippou complained.

"Because," Kagome teased, "we all know how much you like surprises."

Unable to argue against Kagome, Shippou just sighed and open the car door for her instead. "Why is it that Kagome always gets the better of me?" Shippou grumbled when Kilala came into the car.

Kilala twisted around to look at Kagome, who only shrugged and said, "Because she's your mother, that's why," while Shippou groaned.

"I hate it when you say that," Shippou growled while Kagome and Kilala burst into laughter.

The three of them arrived at the restaurant with time to spare, and as it turned out, they were the first ones there. But they didn't have to wait long for the arrival of their friends. There were hugs all around before everyone settled down in their seats. When everyone sat down, Shippou noticed that there was still an empty seat.

Kouga spoke from the other end of the table, "Ginta is coming in a bit, he just went home to change first."

Shippou nodded in understanding for Ayame was asking about Kagome's plans for the future. Kagome was about to answer the wolf when Ginta appeared.

"Sorry, I'm late, everyone. So dinner tonight is on me," Ginta said as he sat down and a waiter handed him a menu.

"In that case…" Both Shippou and Kouga immediately signaled for the waiter to bring them the menu.

"Kouga!" "Shippou!" Ayame and Kagome admonished together.

Ginta chuckled, "it's alright, ladies. I'll just have Kouga and Shippou cover me at the end if I couldn't pay the bill," and winked at Kagome.

"Hey, Ginta, why are you winking at Kagome? Is there something that you are not telling us?" Shippou asked suspiciously.

"Yeah," Kouga chimed in, "on the phone, you said that you have some good news for us. What is it?"

Kagome and Ginta exchanged a look and Ginta nodded. "Starting next week, Kagome will be working as my interiors design assistant," beaming at her while Kagome blushed.

With that happy note, the group spent the remainder of the evening in words and laughter.

* * *

Mrs. Higurashi opened her eyes when she heard sounds coming from the kitchen and looked at the clock beside her bed. It was three o'clock in the morning, 'it must be Souta waking up to get a midnight snack' she thought fondly as she pulled on her dressing robe and headed downstairs to see how he was doing. But to her surprise, it was Kagome whom she found in the kitchen.

"Can't sleep Kagome?"

Kagome spun around when she heard her mother's voice. "Sorry, okaa-san, did I wake you?"

"It's alright, still getting jet lag?" Mrs. Higurashi asked pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"No," Kagome answered bringing over a glass of water and a cup of cocoa to the table. "I just had a lot on my mind."

"About your new job?" Mrs. Higurashi asked smilingly.

Kagome looked up startled, "How did you know?"

"I'm your mother after all," Mrs. Higurashi reminded gently. "Now what are you worried about?"

Kagome traced the top of her cup with a finger before answering, "I'm just worried that I'm not good enough."

"Kagome, I don't think that Ginta would have hired you as his assistant if he did not have confidence that you would exceed his expectations. From what Shippou said, Ginta doesn't easily take on an assistant unless the person showed great potential which I'm sure he has seen in you. You have been through things harder and more dangerous than this, have some confidence in yourself," Mrs. Higurashi said.

"Well, I guess it couldn't be any harder than piecing the shikon no tama together," Kagome said sheepishly, her hand automatically going to the crossed shape scar on her hip.

"That's the spirit," Mrs. Higurashi said encouragingly. "You should get some sleep, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow," and headed upstairs.

"Thanks, Shippou," Kagome said as she got out of the car.

"Good luck," Shippou said gave her an encouraging smile and drove off.

Kagome took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and marched into the building to start another phase in her life.

* * *

"Kagome, are you ready to go yet?" Ginta asked popping his head into her office.

"Yes, give me a minute to make sure I've gotten everything," Kagome called out as she flipped through the folder to make sure that she had everything she needed. When she was certain that everything was in order, she changed into a pair of plumps and pulled on a suit jacket. Grabbing her briefcase and her portfolio, she went to find Ginta.

The two headed to the elevator and Kagome fidgeted nervously while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

"Calm down, Kagome, it's going to be alright," Ginta said reassuringly.

"I'm just worried that the investors won't like my designs," Kagome said stepping into the elevator with Ginta.

After eight months of hard work, Ginta was going to reveal the new design for the new real estate project to their clients. Kagome had poured her heart and soul into this project for she knew the success of her career depended on it. She couldn't help but worry about the reaction of their clients to her designs. Kagome was so intended on her own thoughts that she did not notice where they were driving to, until they were almost there.

"Wait, why are we here?" she asked, recognizing the landmarks.

"I thought you knew that Sesshoumaru's company is a major investor for this project," Ginta answered. "Didn't Shippou tell you?"

"No…" Kagome hissed now understanding the sly looks and comments that the kitsune had been dropping for the past few months. But it was too late to turn now, since Ginta have already headed into the underground parking.

Kagome took many deep calming breaths as they rode the elevator up to the meeting room. When the doors slid open, both of them stepped out and headed down the hallway to the designated meeting room.

"Ready?" Ginta asked once more pausing at the door.

"Can I say no?" Kagome grumbled as she hoisted the strap of her portfolio.

"Too bad for you then," Ginta grinned and pushed the door open.

Luckily for her, there was no one waiting in the room for they were early. Kagome looked around, pleased to find that the projector had already been set up. All she needed to do was to connect her laptop to the projector and run a few tests to make sure that it was working properly.

As they were setting the room, a secretary carried in pots of coffee and bottles of water placing them around the table. Once the both of them were certain that their equipment was in running order, Ginta motioned for Kagome to take a seat beside him. Just as Kagome had settled down in her seat, others began arriving.

The first to arrive was Hakkaku and Ayame. The two of them shook Ginta's and Kagome's hand heartily and took a seat at the other end of the table. Then, several other men and women representing their employers came into the room and settled themselves at the table. Finally, Shippou came in with Jaken and a secretary. Kagome noticed that when Jaken came into the room, Ayame surreptitiously wrinkled her nose and wiped her hands under the table, with a wet nap after shaking hands with Jaken.

Once the greetings were over, Ginta signaled for the secretary to turn off the lights and the meeting began. The audience listened attentively while Ginta presented the designs that he and Kagome have worked hard to come with. Kagome looked at the faces of the people there and was glad no one frowned at her designs.

"Any questions?" Ginta asked when the secretary turned back on the lights after the presentation.

"Won't these environmental friendly designs drastically raise the cost of the building and the price that the consumers have to pay?" someone asked while other murmured assent.

"I believe this is a good selling point," Shippou interrupted before Ginta can answer. "With preserving the environment being all the rage these days, we can advertise that this is the first completely environmentally friendly building."

"Also, if we show the consumers a cost breakdown of how much they would save in the long run, they would be willing to pay the higher price," Ayame added.

There were further murmurs as the people around the room talked it over. "I understand that all of you would have to discuss the increase in cost with your employers," Hakkaku called out. "But this is an unique opportunity to become one of the forerunners in environmental design."

"We will do our best to persuade our employers to approve the use of these designs," one of the representatives said as they all got up to leave. Shippou and Jaken got up to thank them for coming and escorted them out of the room while Hakkaku and Ayame remained in their seats.

"I don't understand why humans never seemed to care what they do to the land, all they ever seemed to care about is the cost," she huffed.

Hakkaku patted her shoulder comfortingly, "not everyone can see things long term," he said.

"At least our Kagome could," Shippou chirped in, having to return from escorting the others and hearing the tail end of that conversation while Kagome blushed. "Cheer up, Ayame," Shippou continued. "Let's all go out and get some lunch to celebrate," and ushered the group out of the room.

Meanwhile, Jaken was in Sesshoumaru's office reporting to him about the meeting not knowing that Sesshoumaru had watched the whole proceedings via camera.

"The design that Ginta had proposed is certainly unique, but it would also increase our costs at least 10," Jaken croaked.

However, Sesshoumaru's attention was not on the presentation Ginta's assistant, Kagome. Sesshoumaru was surprised that she would be here as well, even though he knew that she had become Ginta's assistant, courtesy of Ah and Un. Those two, Myoga, and Shippou never seemed to get tired of talking about her, whenever Shippou comes to visit. They also happened to forget that, as an inu taiyoukai, he had exceptional hearing. So naturally he heard everything that there was to be known about Kagome.

But today was the first time he saw her in three years. One of the first things that he noticed was that she now looked more mature. He had also noticed the look of relief on her face when Ginta had finished presenting and realized that it was Kagome who was designer behind the new concept. He should have expected that she had some talent or else that wolf would not have made her his assistant.

"My lord?" Jaken's voice breaking him out of his reverie, "about the new project?"

Sesshoumaru pondered for a moment, "have Shippou come to my office when he returns," he ordered and dismissed Jaken.

* * *

The group went to Ayame's favourite restaurant for lunch where they discussed what changes must be made before the project could actually be finalized. Kagome excused herself when her cell phone rang, and to her delight, it was Kilala who had called to see how did the investors liked her designs.

"Kilala just called," Kagome announced when she returned to her table. "She wanted to know who else is coming to the get together this weekend?"

"Count me out," Shippou grimaced. "I have some things that I need to follow up on."

"Sorry Kagome, I'm going to have to go over some stuff with the suppliers," Ginta said.

"Kouga and I are going to attend a meeting out of town," Hakkaku explained.

Ayame looked around the table and turned to Kagome, "I guess it's only us girls then."

"Fine by me," Kagome chirped happily for she had hoped for a girls' night before, but never gotten realized until now. "I'll call Kilala later and we'll discuss the details."

* * *

"We should come here more often," Ayame said as the three of them sat on the benches underneath the Goshinboku. "It's so peaceful here."

"It's surprising, isn't it?" Kilala asked as she looked around the yard. "Imagine this was all forest back then."

"I think that's one of the reasons why my ancestors decided to build the shrine here," Kagome said.

The three of them decided to gather in Kagome's yard after their dinner to enjoy the evening breeze. Souta had gone to visit a friend and her mother had taken her grandfather to the hospital for his yearly check up.

"Kilala, you like Shippou don't you?" Kagome asked suddenly.

"Why, Kagome. What made you say that?" Kilala stammered caught off guard by the question while Ayame tried to hold back a smile.

Ever since she had gotten to known Kilala, Ayame could tell that she had feelings for the kitsune but was afraid to show it. She had hoped that after fifty years of absence, the neko youkai would come to her senses and admit her own feelings. They were, after all, youkai. So there was no stigma for a female to find a mate. Kouga and Hakkaku have even began placing bets as to how long it would take the two of them to acknowledge their own feelings.

"Because I can tell that Shippou acts differently when he's around you," Kagome explained smilingly.

"What ever do you mean, Kagome? He treats everyone more or less the same," Kilala said getting flustered under Kagome's unwavering look.

"Kilala," Kagome said gently. "It was you who always stood by him on the quest for the shikon and through the worst parts of his life. You know I won't live forever, so I'll need you to take care of him for me."

"You've been alone for too long," Kagome continued coming to sit beside the neko youkai. "You have made many people happy by healing their pets. It's time to give yourself a chance at happiness," she said giving Kilala's hands a squeeze.

"But you might have to resort to a certain amount of force to get your point across, Kilala. Since Shippou was practically raised by the great icicle," Ayame joked standing up. "I don't know about you two, but I am craving some green tea ice cream, race you both back to the house," and took off with a grin.

Kilala laughed and sprang after the wolf while Kagome yelled from behind them, "HEY, NO FAIR. YOU'RE USING YOUKAI SPEED"

* * *

Kagome paused outside the washroom door to get her bearings straight. She honestly hates going to other people's office buildings for meetings, especially one as big as Sesshoumaru's.

"They really need some signs around here," she muttered under her breath as headed back to the meeting room where they were finalizing the details for the media conference that Shippou wanted. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she screamed when someone grabbed her shoulders from behind her.

She spun around to face the person with a hand pressed against her heart breathing heavily, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind.

"We're sorry, Kagome," Ah and Un apologized looking stricken. "We didn't know that you didn't hear us."

"Kagome, are you alright? What happened?" Shippou asked coming to a stop beside her with Ginta, Hakkaku, and Ayame behind him. They had rushed out of the room at top speed when they heard Kagome's scream.

Kagome dredged up a trembling smile for her concerned friends, "it's alright, Shippou. Ah and Un just surprised me that's all," while Shippou sent a glare at the dragon youkai.

The two raised their hands in unison, "we didn't mean to, honest. We didn't know that she couldn't sense us."

"I'm really alright, Shippou," Kagome reassured her adopted son patting him on the arm. "It's my fault really for not paying attention to my surroundings. What are you two doing here at the office?" she asked turning to speak to the dragon youkai.

"We're here because," Ah began when he was interrupted by a cold voice.

"What is all this commotion?" Sesshoumaru asked dressed in a tailored business suit coming towards the group.

Kagome heard the three wolves gulped and saw Shippou gave himself a little shake before answering Sesshoumaru.

"We were just heading back from our break and happened to meet up with Ah and Un that's all," Shippou lied. "We will return to our work now, Sesshoumaru-sama," bowing to the taiyoukai, grabbed Kagome's arm, and all but dragged her away.

Kagome looked up at Shippou in confusion. She really wanted to know what was it about Sesshoumaru that made people want to get away from him? Unable to help herself, Kagome turned her head to look back at the taiyoukai, still standing there with Ah and Un behind him watching them leave.

Shippou let go of Kagome's arm when they returned to the meeting room and Kagome felt her jaw dropped at the sight of the broken door.

"Oh yeah," Shippou said sheepishly rubbing his head. "We were in such a hurry to get to you when we heard you scream that this," gesturing to the broken doors, "happened."

"Is that why you dragged me away so quickly?" Kagome asked, "because you don't want Sesshoumaru to find out?"

"Partly," Shippou admitted, "but Sesshoumaru had the tendency to overawe people with his jaki."

Kagome looked around to see nods of affirmation from the wolves and frowned. "If Sesshoumaru's jaki was that strong, how come I didn't feel it?"

Shippou and Ginta exchanged looks with each other. "You're not used to Sesshoumaru's jaki signature, we are. Besides you're a miko, it doesn't affect you the way it affects us," Shippou explained.

"I see…" Kagome responded looking thoughtful, but ruefully shook her head and went back to her seat to begin working again.

The others let out a collective sigh of relief that Kagome didn't notice she was having trouble recognizing all jaki, not just Sesshoumaru's. With a jerk of her head, Ayame indicated for everyone to return to work which they all did.

'Odd,' Sesshoumaru thought as he made his way back to the office after watching Shippou and the others leave, his jaki seemed to have no effect on the girl. But she was a miko, but she responded to it like any ordinary mortal would.

But his train of thought was disturbed by the dragon youkai whispering behind him.

"I told not to do that," Ah whispered.

"How was I supposed to know that she couldn't sense us," Un retorted. "She used to be able to."

Hearing this tidbit, Sesshoumaru's ears perked up. No wonder the miko did not notice his presence whenever Shippou brought her to his estate, he did not trust the girl to wander around by herself. So he kept a close watch on her, but unlike five hundred years ago, she did not show any sign of sensing jaki. Once or twice, he even managed to surprise her when he appeared right in front of her. Whenever that happened, she would just smile and apologized to him and left without a backward glance.

"Ah-Un"

The dragon youkai jumped at the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice and looked guiltily at each other. "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Have Shippou come to the estates this weekend and bring the girl," Sesshoumaru ordered and dismissed the dragon youkai.

Ah and Un looked at each other, 'That was odd' Ah thought to Un.

'Indeed,' Un nodding his head in agreement. 'I wonder why."


End file.
